This Golden Hour
In this podcast, we specifically serve new homeschool families through engaging conversations with homeschool parents and families at all levels of experience and expertise. Listeners will increase their confidence and assurance about their children's education and future while diminishing their fears. This podcast helps you know how to begin homeschooling, navigate challenges, and answer questions for all stages of the journey.
The name “This Golden Hour” has meaning. First, this name refers to the years parents have to raise and teach their children from birth to when they leave home to be on their own. As parents, we have a golden opportunity to teach and learn alongside our children during these formative and essential years of growth and development. Second, “This Golden Hour” points to this same period of childhood as the children’s chance to read, explore nature, and enjoy an inspiring atmosphere of family, love, and learning.
This Golden Hour
105. Creative Teamwork with the Bryant Family
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In today’s episode, we get to spend time with the Bryant family from Southern California. Bobby Bryant II and his three children, Bobby III, Ava, and Joseph, discuss their unique homeschooling journey, the role of faith in their education, and their collaborative creative projects.This episode is really for anyone interested in homeschooling, faith-based education, and the power of family collaboration. The Bryants’ story offers encouragement, practical insights, and a testament to the lasting impact of intentional parenting and creative teamwork
Connect with the Bryants
Trusting Timothy: A Story about Cheating
YouTube Channel - @LaughingOutLouuud
Resources
This Golden Hour
I'm familiar going through public school myself, those situations that those family members are talking about, those challenges socially that, we're concerned about socialization, but there's a lot of negatives with socialization in public school that we may forget as we focus on, on, on the homeschool. But yeah, I think they slowly came around family and friends and so even if they didn't maybe personally go through that route, they realized that we made a good decision.
Timmy EatonHi. I am Timmy Eaton, homeschool father of six and Doctor of Education. We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years and have watched our children go from birth to university successfully and completely without the school system. Homeschooling has grown tremendously in recent years, and tons of parents are becoming interested in trying it out, but people have questions and concerns and misconceptions and lack the confidence to get started. New and seasoned homeschoolers are looking for more knowledge and peace and assurance to continue. New 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 are listening to this Golden Hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with the Bryant family from Southern California, Bobby Bryant II and his three children, Bobby iii. Ava and Joseph discuss their unique homeschooling journey, the role. Of faith in their education and their collaborative creative projects. This episode is really for anyone interested in homeschooling, faith-based education, and the power of family collaboration. The Bryant story offers encouragement, practical insights, and a testament to the lasting impact of intentional parenting and creative teamwork. Welcome back to this Golden Hour podcast today. We are very excited to have with us the Bryant family from Southern California. Thanks for being with us, you guys. Thank you for having us.
Joseph BryantThank you.
Timmy EatonJust so our listeners know, this is the first time I've had four people, so we have Bobby, the second, and then Bobby third, and then Ava and Joseph. So Bobby and his three children, a homeschool father of three. And they wrote together A book called Trusting Timothy, A Story about Cheating, which actually won the Christ Lit Book Award in 2025. And we're gonna talk about that throughout the interview today. But go ahead and add anything you will to the your bio and introduce yourselves one by one, if you don't mind.
Bobby Bryant III'm Dad, Bobby Bryan ii. We've been homeschooling from the beginning kindergarten through high school. Very happy with the process, very happy with the decision. No regrets. I think we dispelled a lot of the, maybe the negative things you hear about homeschooling that may have made, I'll say me nervous at first. Yeah. I think my wife was in right away, but it took me a little while, but I think we were able to dispel the all the negative stereotypes about homeschooling and again, very happy that we made that decision. And I'll do that all over again.
Timmy EatonYeah, same here. Same here. Go ahead, Ava.
Ava BryantYes, I'm Ava Bryant, the daughter and sister, and I've enjoyed this homeschooling process because number one, I had two great parents who brought us up in the ways of the Lord so that made it great. We discussed the Bible together every day, so I think that contributed to a strong foundation in God's word which I also think is very important. Especially like we're writing to younger readers, but it's for everyone, but especially targeting younger readers, so we believe that starting young is a great place. So from a young age we were brought up in the ways of the Lord and that I feel helped my relationship with Jesus Christ become stronger and the everyday together. I also liked the family dynamic. With homeschool, I love that. I could learn alongside my siblings as well, so I felt like that helped us connect better as siblings and as a family. So we could see each other every day and then hang out and learn and grow together. So I thought that really helped me and shaped me into who I'm today.
Timmy EatonAwesome. Ava, and what's the age difference between you and your brothers?
Ava BryantI'm 18. Bobby's 19 and Joseph is 17
Timmy Eatonokay, Bobby.
Bobby Bryant IIIMy name is Bobby Bryant Deur, and I'm also glad that I've been homeschooled because my parents taught me the right things and they also helped me learn at my own pace. Yeah. And I'm also a songwriter and I play the piano.
Timmy EatonOh, awesome man. Excellent. Okay, we'll talk about that for sure. And Joseph?
Joseph BryantOh yes. I'm Joseph Bryant. And I'm also grateful to have been able to be homeschooled because not only were we able to learn stuff on the educational level, we were also able to learn on a spiritual level as we are Christians. We were able to educate our minds well. Also educating our hearts with the Bible. And my quote I like is by Aristotle and he says educating the mind without educating the heart. There's no education at all. I that quote. 'cause
Bobby Bryant IIyeah, to,
Joseph BryantEducate, you have to make sure that you have you get knowledge with information and reading and all that, but you also have to make sure I'm on a speech level as well. You get that education. That's why I think homeschool was very good.
Timmy EatonExcellent, man. Thank you for that introduction. I appreciate it. Let's just start with, a pretty organic fluid conversation and just have it be natural. So I like it that way. And you guys, anytime you have a question or you wanna say something, let me know also but Bobby Dad's so how did you guys get into homeschooling? Were you homeschooled growing up, how'd you guys make the decision?
Bobby Bryant IIActually, both my wife and I were both through the public school system. So this was definitely a new experience for us. Again, initially she was on board and I was hesitant as the kids are saying, we're Christians. And so that Christian background and foundation was so important for us. And that's what we wanted to make sure we were able to emphasize with the kids growing up. And so we knew we were gonna be, do that with the public school system. With that being our strongest focus and our foundation, we knew that we needed to check in the homeschool. And again initially I was hesitant. The, I think the thing that scared me the most was probably one of the most common concerns is the socialization.
Timmy EatonYeah.
Bobby Bryant IIBut what I learned really fast is that, we were able to partner up with homeschool co-op. And we still did the field trips where we still did the get togethers with movies. We still did the sports, they all had their terms basketball or golf and tennis. They had dance as well that main concern was just spilled right away for me. And I'd just love to the benefits of flexibility and everything that we could talk about more.
Timmy EatonAnd were you in California when you decided to do that?
Bobby Bryant IIYes. We've been in California the whole time.
Timmy EatonAnd how did you know it was even an option?
Bobby Bryant IIYou know what my wife did a lot of the research initially when we thought about again, going back to Christian being our foundation, we looked into different maybe Christian school options. But what made us decide to homeschool is that checking into different Christian schools, one of the things that, that we were told is that teachers weren't required to be Christian. And so we found that a little bit concerning how could Christian values be taught by non-Christians. And so that we knew that we needed to check in the homeschool more and. Again, we're definitely glad we did. We found a nice re regional homeschool co-op that we partnered with. They kept our records test scores and everything. And and again, it's, it is been a blessing for our family.
Timmy EatonWow. And so all three of you guys, like as the kids you haven't known anything else? Like you've never been in a public school or, yeah, and that's my kids too. They know what it's like or something, but they never went. My kids have even played sports in the schools, but they just don't they've actually never gone to school and they've gone right to university without it. So let me just ask you guys a couple of questions and then whoever wants to respond, I'll just let you guys look at each other and decide who, who wants to respond. But, so what have you guys found from from the kids? What do you see as like the greatest benefits? You mentioned a couple things already, but what's something about it that you're like, no, this is what makes it like something I really love personally? What is something you like about it?
Joseph BryantWith homeschooling I've really enjoyed it. Partly the fact of being able to do it in my own house because being in an environment you're comfortable with and getting to learn stuff is very beneficial. On top of being able to be taught by your own mother. That's that was just a really cool part about it. The whole family environment. Yeah. Kind like they said getting to learn with my siblings. It was just very cool. And yeah. Then with our mom being our teacher she was really able to help us individually determine what we wanted to learn what we wanted to mix that. So it was just a very cool process all in all.
Timmy EatonAnd Ava had mentioned that being able to do it alongside her siblings, which is probably what was our number one motivation and I think has continued through our 17 years plus years of homeschooling, was that you get to do it as a family. You just get more time together.
Ava BryantLike Joseph said we, we got to work individually with our mom and she did help us figure out what we wanted to do. For me personally, I always liked writing. I, I took a writing a writing class in high school. So we that was one of the things like I was really focusing on. I wrote some short stories and I enjoyed it and even younger than that, I remember just writing stories for fun. I just remember, loving to do that. And reading as well. I loved reading. So that was going hand in hand with writing books because I love the creativity and getting to imagine. So when every time I read books, I would always picture the characters. So that's something I, I would love doing. Sometimes it was even better than the movie, because you got to imagine what they would be like. So that, that was actually pretty cool. Yeah. And so with my characters, like I, I always enjoyed picturing and imagining, so that, that was a big part of for me. I love being creative. Also some of the things other things I'm interested in we did a coding program as well. So that was something I was interested in because I wanted to make my own video games. Yeah. So that was pretty cool doing that. And when I took the classes, I learned some web design skills and I found that enjoyable. So that's like just something I'm pursuing trying to start my own website business. Yeah, and we also two of us have our own YouTube channel. Oh, cool. We do comedy. Yeah, we do comedy videos, and it's really fun. So just again being creative and having fun that's really what I love to focus on.
Timmy EatonJust real quick, you mentioned some books. So name a few books that you love. Ava.
Ava BryantGrowing up I loved the Baron St. Bears. I loved a series the Ramona series. I loved those books. I loved the hobby. I loved just those imaginative fun books. So classics.
Timmy EatonAnd then Bobby, what would you say? What for you something that you like really liked or top things that you appreciate about homeschooling?
Bobby Bryant IIIIt's like what my siblings said, you get to do it in your own house and have your family teach you. And like I said before, you get to do it at your own pace. You get to run your own race and grow as you go along.
Timmy EatonYeah. Why do you why do you like being able to go at your own pace? Maybe that is obvious, but like what do you like about that?
Bobby Bryant IIIWhat I like about it's because all of us learn differently and with homeschooling, you, you get to find out how the person learns in. You get to know the process and just teach 'em how they understand.
Timmy EatonSo good. So Joseph, maybe I'll ask you, what do you think your mom would say is like the best part of homeschooling? I know she's not right there, but maybe if you could answer for her, what do you think she'd say?
Joseph BryantI think she'd say that one of the best parts is, getting to teach her kids because she loves her family. So that's her favorite thing is family. So I think she'd probably say getting to spend time with us and be the one to teach us God's word, teach us all our education. I think she'd say that's the best part about getting to spend time with us.
Timmy EatonAnd do you wanna add anything to that? Bobby the second. Yeah.
Bobby Bryant IIYeah. I would say definitely the emphasis for her was, to teach them God's word. A big emphasis for us was, we still today we do daily Bible readings as a family. When I'm home I'll join in, but they do a daily Bible readings each and every day. To be, again, being able to focus on that with our foundation, knowing what the One Style Foundation through the, what the word of God was set, everything was fine, was would be fine. We'd like the verse Matthew 6 33. First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else falls in line. And we really believe that when you put God first and give, have that foundation, then everything else just falls into place. Yeah.
Timmy EatonI've heard it said that when you put God first that everything falls into place or falls out of your life as it to, and so that's an interesting way to look at that too. And then, so let's go to the other side of things. If you had to stay in, in whatever it is for you guys individually what do you see as the what are the challenges? What are the hardest parts or things that you don't like about the homeschool option?
Joseph BryantMe personally as I was going through the whole homeschool process, I I always enjoyed it because like I said getting to spend time with my siblings, it was just always very cool.
Bobby Bryant IIBut
Joseph BryantI did have moments where I would wonder what it was like, with the public school socialization and that aspect of things. But with all the activities we were able to do my dad mentioned that we now we're in a homeschool group and we have a lot of friends there. We get to hang out with them. Mm-hmm. I was on a basketball team with a homeschool organization. Because of us getting to do all that stuff then it wa it wasn't hard for me to realize I homeschool. Yeah, definitely the best choice from us. But so yeah, there, there were moments, but overall I no risk from homeschool at all 'cause it was just a very good process.
Timmy EatonAnd so you're, 17, 18, 19.
Bobby Bryant IIFor one, one month of the every year their stepladder.
Timmy EatonThat's really cool. I actually grew up in a family like that. So I can relate to that closeness and age. And I like it. 'cause you could be such good friends, and you can spend that time together and relate to what's going on in each other's lives. I was just gonna Piggyback a little bit,
Bobby Bryant IIYeah, something, what Joseph said and what you said is we talked about, first think the kingdom of God and everything we had, and you also said would leave out. With the socialization, yes it worked out fine, but to, to your point about leaving things out, some of the, all the negative socialization that can sometimes creep in when you're not homeschooling, we didn't have to worry about that. So again, subtracting or taking away negatives I think was a big point.
Ava BryantI agree. For me throughout the whole spirit process, there were moments where I would wonder o okay how is public school? Because even in TV shows and movies sometimes that they they depict it like in a certain way. So I was like, is it really that way? So I was kind, curious, socialization, but as Joseph said, we were in a lot of activities. I was in tennis, so I did that for for a few years. So just getting to have the freedom with those activities as well. But as my dad said I believe not having to deal with the negative peer pressure was also good for us. I believe that since we were in one accord with each other as Christians, I believe that as the Bible says, our as iron, serve as iron. So I believe that we could strengthen each other in the Lord, and have ourselves as friends pretty much so that we do have friends like Joseph mentioned, we are a part of a homeschool group. So we were able to make some friends through that and also through other groups as well. So we have friends, but we also each other, so yes.
Timmy EatonOne of the, I feel the practical things that families, especially newer families that are starting to homeschool, they wonder like sometimes their question is okay, for example, in your situation, you've got three kids right in a row. They'll say how do you keep 'em all on the same page? And they have this assumption. That it's almost like in the schools where people they have these standardized testing to see, make sure kids are at a certain level. And what Joseph and Bobby have talked about is like learning at your own pace and very customized, flexible kind of learning. So what do you say to new moms or something like that, you guys that are thinking, man, I gotta keep everybody on the same page. Like, how did you guys do that? How did you determine curriculum for each other? What subjects you were gonna study, when you were gonna do, like you mentioned you did bible study as a family. So when do you do that? When do you do individual study, especially as you got into the high school years, like how did that go down? Paint us a picture of what it looked like in the Bryant household.
Bobby Bryant IIIWe just talked it over and made a plan. We discussed what each of us wanted to do and we made a plan and dec and decide how we would follow through.
Timmy EatonWhen did you guys do that? When did you guys make that plan?
Bobby Bryant IIYou would meet in the mornings, right? You discuss again, we, we would start with the with Bible. And then they would have a map out, a schedule, what they would do. Maybe the first hour able would do math while Joseph was working on a language. And so we inc a lot of different programs there, there were online programs for teaching foreign languages. There were programs that we used for math that were really good. What else?
Timmy EatonDo you remember a couple of those? Sometimes people like to hear that what was stuff you guys used for languages and what'd you use for math and stuff like that? Yeah, for language
Bobby Bryant IIwhat was the name?
Ava BryantWe did iki dot com and then for a little while we did Rosetta Stone, but that was for a short time. But I, Iki was really useful because it was pretty cool having conversations with people in other languages. And also getting to learn that grammar as well which was useful.
Timmy EatonSo I have a son right now that's in San Diego. He's been there for almost two years. And he learned Farsi, which is like Persian, and he did that. He did I talkie and he would talk with people from Iran and then that's how he learned it. Just like you were saying with I talkie. So I don't know if a lot of people know about I talkie, but we've used that a couple of times and it's actually been really effective for us. But carry on. Sorry, Ava.
Ava BryantOkay. And then for math, we use a program called teaching textbooks. Same here. That's us
Timmy Eatontoo.
Ava BryantYeah, it was very convenient just getting to do it on the computer. And we can, again they mentioned moving on our own pace. So the lessons and the pace of moving out de depending on how much we wanted to do. So sometimes I would do like a few lessons depending on how well I got the concept or if some lessons were harder, I would take my time. So me, me personally, I loved getting the great grades. A lot of times I would just take my time and study for a test, for example pre-calculus
Bobby Bryant IIwow.
Ava BryantI remember that being one where I really took my time because I didn't wanna get a low grade, so I just made sure I took my time and studied to get the a. Yeah. Great.
Bobby Bryant IISo
Ava Bryantit was different for each of us. 'cause for me personally I always strive to get the best grade. So that's just what I did. And then we also used Saxon for math as well, but that was a little bit, but teaching textbook was the majority
Timmy Eatonwhat are some other things that you guys like to study or would you say was an integral part of your education? For example if I were to speak for my kids we really stressed music in our family and that just naturally emerged. That wasn't something my wife and I planned out or something. But that was a huge thing. It was an investment that we did and we really had them focus on music and then a lot on writing and reading and being read to, like I mentioned often to my episodes, my wife to this day any kids that's home is gonna get read to that day. So it just happens on a daily basis. Not only just scriptural things, but they're always in some. Text a novel or some kind of classic, excellent literature. And and I love that. I think that those are a couple things that are really integral to the education that our kids have experienced. What would you guys say are a couple of other things, it doesn't have to be necessarily academic things, but just like things that you guys would say individually have been totally important to your education.
Joseph BryantI think with me Ava said earlier I always enjoy it. I, reading from a young age as well, even now I love to just read lots of books. I did, a few different reading programs in school with other kids actually, which cool online course courses. Yeah. Read different books such as The Hobbit I Wrinkle and Tom books like that adventure that kind of enjoyed. So that was yeah, big for me. I also worked on writing a lot with writing essays. I wrote some poems like poetry because I like to do like creative writing as well. I think is why I enjoyed writing this, the book we wrote so much is I've always enjoyed kind creative writing and stuff like poetry and expressive writing. Yeah. That was cool. And then similar to bj, I played the piano for a lot of years actually, but I ended up, decided I didn't wanna play anymore. So I decided to quit piano. And then a couple years after that, I decided I wanted to learn to play the guitar. So I've been playing the guitar from a few years now.
Timmy EatonOkay. Okay. And then bj, what would you say? Because you, yeah, that's true. You mentioned piano.
Bobby Bryant IIIYeah.
Timmy EatonWhat else would you add?
Bobby Bryant IIII'm really interested in music and me and my brother and I performed at church playing piano and guitar.
Timmy EatonAwesome. One thing I ask often about, because I think it's like a lot of the audience, I think that I have wants to demystify homeschooling because it can be intimidating, it can be overwhelming. When I just feel like to look at youth three at the stage you're at and just to, the feel of your characters, you can just see like the transformation that homeschooling can have on our children. And so what are you guys looking at in the future? What are you thinking? 17, 18, 19. What are you thinking? What are your plans?
Joseph BryantFor me personally I see myself continuing to write books definitely as a family. Possibly I'm an individual as well, but I'm definitely writing more books as a family. Like even mentioned with our YouTube channel that we have I definitely want to continue pursuing that and growing subscribers and continue with that as well. I also want to see how far I can go with guitar because I, I used to take lessons, but until my instructor had to leave. I've been learning now individually now with with my practice. But I do wanna see how far I can go with that. Potentially, songwriting or bing a musician with that. So my was working with that. And I also like to play chess, so I've been trying to increase my rating with that on chess.com.
Timmy EatonOn chess.com. Yeah. That's great. Yeah, I, that's not my plan. That's cool. That's very good. Yeah, go ahead. Bobby, bj
Bobby Bryant IIIIn the future I was, hope I was hoping to write songs. A poston. So to the company or a performer at a concert. And I als and also wanna write why books with our family into the future.
Timmy EatonWe're gonna get that into that in a second, 'cause I'm excited to see how you guys got into that. How do you write a book with four people and that, all those questions that people might have. Ava, go ahead.
Ava BryantFor me personally as BJ and Joseph mentioned I also want to continue writing with my family this series. For me personally, I also want to write individually as well, so that's an interest I have that, that I see myself having my website business, so I want to pursue that. I also wanna create my own game app, so I'm trying to figure that out. But I see myself in the near future developing that. And like Joseph said I wanna continue making YouTube videos because that's something I really enjoy as
Timmy Eatonwell. Cool. I was talking to actually a good friend this last few days, this week. Just talking about how people are looking at university and college some people just go you go to college. It's almost it's almost like another public school idea, public institution. 'cause it's of course you go to university 'cause you get a degree 'cause that makes your pay better. That's not always the case. And and so what I'm saying is like, how do you guys view it? And maybe Bobby. The second can answer first, but like how are you viewing the. The use of university in college? Is there potential to go after a degree if it matches what you're pursuing? Or are you you don't really see use for that? Or like how do you guys view it?
Bobby Bryant IIGreat question. Yes. It's, I would say my perspective has really changed over the years. Me too. My, my wife and I we met at college again, we went to the whole public school and met at the university. My thinking, if you had asked me I don't know about 20 years ago, it would've been different. But today just with some of the focus and I, it feels like the university system has changed a lot. But not getting too specific. It's really changed a lot. Some
Timmy Eatonpretty clear agendas. Many have some pretty clear agendas, I think.
Bobby Bryant IIYes. Which has been a turnoff. So I think you used the term specific to whatever you wanna go into. I don't know. If you want to become a lawyer, then Yes. Then yeah, we will say go ahead and do the university thing because
Timmy Eatonyou have to
Bobby Bryant IIbut not just to go to university. Just to go to university in my opinion if it fits the what you want go into, yes, but then I'm all for it. We'll back you and get you there. But just to go and just to be going to be there. I'm not necessarily for that. I'm with you. If you had asked me that 20 years ago, I would've said yes.
Timmy EatonYeah, same here. You need to go. You have to
Bobby Bryant IIgo. But now, yeah, if you would've asked me
Timmy Eatonthat six or seven years ago, I probably would've been likely to say yeah, I think you have a better chance of earning and increasing that. And, but now I'm actually see almost like you said you met your wife at at college. So did I, and I almost see it as like the hard part about it is like, unless you have a clear profession that you're pursuing that requires the certification or the degree, yes. You can accomplish that. 'cause there's, there's lots of learning online and there's so many resources now. Yes. But the one thing that does put me over the edge is the social aspect of it. Because you have to find other ways to meet people and to meet potential spouses and, for a lot of people in the faith realm, that's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen at a bar a lot of times or it's not gonna happen. That kind of place. So it, it does become this question of do you pay a bunch of tuition so that you can meet somebody like anyway. So I don't know, but
Bobby Bryant IIyeah, I like your thought process and yes be, because we both met our spouses in college and, we're, it's hard to, to not, but we
Timmy Eatonwere bias.
Bobby Bryant IIThank you. We have a bias, but again, with us, with the changes, with everything going with the universities and again just sticking with, again, knowing that God's plan, you're gonna meet that person. I believe that he has in store for you anyway, as long as you trust him and obey him. That person is you're gonna meet him at church. Are you gonna meet him at the at the local bookstore? Are you gonna meet him at the library? Are you gonna meet at a grocery store? So he's gonna make sure that you meet that person that he has in store for you. I believe,
Timmy Eatonyeah. I appreciate that. It's like your example really is of meeting them at church or at the library or whatever that is akin to oh, but if they don't go to school, they can't have friends, and it's they meet 'em at music lessons. Yes. They meet 'em at dance, theater, sports, it's ridiculous to think that the only place that you can forge these relationships is in a public institution. And anyway, that that's interesting. Any of the kids have a response on that, on like how you're viewing university or, because you might go, yeah, I might not go and get a degree, but I might take a class 'cause it's gonna be helpful to what I'm trying to do with my YouTube stuff or, a business or enhancing some aspect of something I will pursue.
Joseph BryantI think it was about like a couple months ago actually I was really considering taking college classes and I I had my mom take me to the college and check it out. Asked some questions and I was actually close to, applying and taking some classes. But the more I thought about it personally, I just really didn't see how it would help me personally because I was just I really was just curious about the experience of it. I was wanting what it would be like taking classes just the experience of it. But the more I thought about, I realized with what I was trying to do with being an author, being a YouTuber playing the guitar, playing chess, I didn't necessarily need college for that and I would just be going to just go. So the more I thought about, I realized it would be better for me to just continue pursuing the things I'm pursuing and just continue to work on those things. So that's kind my position as of now. Like what dad said, if I was pursuing something else being a doctor or lawyer, I'd probably apply to college. But since now I think, me personally, I don't feel the need to go.
Timmy EatonYeah. I appreciate that, Joseph. I was actually talking to my brother-in-law last night. He's a business owner and we were talking about how a lot of times business owners including him, they really are looking for, and I don't know exactly how they ascertain this information, but they're looking for depending on the business, they're looking for people who know how to learn and who love to learn because you do have to be so adaptable there's so much change and so much advancement and anyway you, they're looking for people more than Hey, what degree do you have? Do you know how to learn? And then yes, a lot of times what expertise do you have? But if you can know how to learn and you're not intimidated by that, and you're willing and you're humble to learn, then you can learn anything, right? And definitely. Anyway, that's a benefit, but any other thoughts on that, you guys, how you're viewing. Post-secondary education.
Ava BryantFor me personally, I similar to Joseph. I was actually considering taking college classes. I was considering taking a class in computer science or maybe accounting, just to see how it was really. Yeah. Just curious as well about the overall college experience. So I got to walk around and and talk to some people. I actually, I realized I didn't really want college. It was pretty much just me, I don't wanna say experimenting, but trying to see what it would really be like. So I just, I decided that was better to keep pursuing my individual goals and and dreams and to just not do college. And
Timmy EatonAva, what do you say to people that are like how are you gonna make money like you, because that is, that's, a lot of people wanna know. They go, how does this translate into providing for a family? And then if, and if you want to start your family and have children and stuff like that what, how do you do it?
Ava BryantI believe that me writing books is I'm going to translate into income as long as well as my my web design business as as well as our YouTube channel. I believe those are sources of income that I can get as well. So yeah, I believe that even though I'm not going to college, there's still a way for me to be able to earn a living. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I believe the things I'm doing now will leave me down that path. What's your YouTube channel called again? It's called Laughing Out Loud. The Loud has three u's, so it's capital L for laughing, capital O for out, and then capital L for loud. And it's all together, no spaces
Timmy Eatonand we'll put that in the show notes because I wanna see that. Yeah. And then Vij, did you have anything to add to that, just like the way you're viewing the next step?
Bobby Bryant IIIMe personally, I don't think college will help. Right now I'm focusing on getting some writing books with my family and making music. Yeah. And I'm hopefully to publish songs in the future as a way of income.
Timmy EatonI like hearing that. 'cause I just feel like it opens people mind. 'cause people get pretty anxious about that and they're like, ah, how am I gonna do this? And the world has taught us for so long you have to have a degree. You have to have a degree. But then experientially, there's so many people that don't have a degree and they're doing well in, in today's world. And and like I've talked a lot of people about trades and how effective the trades have been with for so many people. Maybe we could transition a little bit here so the book that they wrote is called Trusting Timothy, a Story about Cheating. When did you write it and how did you have the idea for it? And then maybe talk a little bit about the details, the evolution of how it went down and how did you actually collaborate with each other to produce it?
Bobby Bryant IIYes. We had been talking about writing a book together for, as a family for a long time. And then we finally sat down. I would say it was a little over a year and a half maybe process. And we finally decided that we were gonna do it. It was initially inspired by my relationship with my paternal grandmother, Ona. I give her a lot of credit for me becoming a Christian. I remember going, spending summers with her and being in the children's choir and, learning different songs. And so I give, again, give her credit for be Becoming a Christian. In the book it talks about Timothy's is the main character, and so he has a nice relationship with his grandmother. Which kind of piggy backs off of my but let you, my grandmother. And so with that in mind again, because we're a tight knit family, we decided this is something I we wanted to come together and do it together. We require a lot of brainstorming sessions. Going back and forth, I'll joke and then say that Ava got her way most of the time she'll say, she'll joke and say, I got my way most of the time. And probably Joseph and BJ would do the same thing. But so a lot of late night sessions brainstorming meetings, we pretty much every email we, we see we discussed the response. So it's a team effort. It requires more time, but again, it, we just, we enjoy the process because we're doing it together.
Timmy EatonWhat do you guys remember about the process and how long did it take? I would say about a year and a half. Yeah. So over a year? Yes. Wow. Wow. That's a lot of work, isn't it?
Ava BryantYeah, it was a fun process. I enjoyed working with my dad and and brothers. On this project. It wa it was challenging because we have different personalities and different opinions. So coming together was a little challenging because we had different takes on how we should phrase Yeah. The sentences or just different things. But thank the Lord we were able to come together every time and come up with a solution and just this process being new, I feel like. It was fun to get to, to see what it was really like. Seeing our book come to life was really exciting for me. Yeah. Throughout this process. So seeing all the illustrations that, that was really cool. And justice editing process, figuring out, okay, do we like this or do we not like this? So just being able to be creative and work and come together. I feel like was a really great thing and a blessing for us.
Timmy EatonWould you guys go off individually and write stuff based on like, where you were at with the ideas and then come it's a, Hey, check out what I came up with? Or was it a group effort through the whole thing as far as like you said almost sentence by sentence, but I just that's it'd be so hard, I feel like with four people. It
Bobby Bryant IIwas hard. And again time consuming. It's, it takes longer 'cause as Ava was saying, difference of difference in personality, difference in, in wording or our writing style. Yeah. Yeah. Which made it more, more challenging. But and sometimes it was tough because we even number of our writers, so we, a lot of times we had to vote and sometimes it was two to two, so it required more discussion, but fortunately, most of the time it was either three to one or four to zero. So we were able to move our head with eventually on, on different topics.
Bobby Bryant IIIWe'll just piggybacking off what they said, it was a long processing. And it does take a while for us to agree because we do have d different personalities, but yeah, like for the art style and the words. But eventually it was worth it.
Timmy EatonIf if somebody asked you guys and they said who's, like print has, who has the heaviest print on this book? But who really feels like they had the greatest influence in this?
Bobby Bryant IIIAll of us. Yeah. It was a, it was definitely a team effort.
Timmy EatonAnd how long did you dedicate a day or like when did you work on the book and how did you work in everything else that you were doing in life and learning and whatever?
Joseph BryantWe would like I said, we had a lot of discussions and, we'd work around everybody's schedules and we'd find timeout the day to discuss and work on it with us. Respond to emails or have a conversation about something we need to do with the book. So kind, just working around everybody's schedules and find the best time zone work on it every day. Wow.
Bobby Bryant IIAnother good bonus for homeschooling is the, again, we're going back to that flexibility. Definitely. We're here in between lessons, whatever we, it is easier to get together as a family. I believe, because, we're all here.
Timmy EatonNo, you take out six to eight hours a day that is dedicated to travel to and from, and then in school and then of course. There's so much involved with the school that like Yeah. That you open up all that time. Yes. And you can do, you can get a lot done with a family of 3, 4, 5, 6 kids. So tell us about the book then. Just a little bit. Give us, we don't, not too much spoiling, but give us the basic idea.
Joseph BryantI think the basic idea is Timothy has just transferred to a new school and you're in a new school, you're, it's always tough on making new friends of course. But Timothy meets some new friends and as he is spending time with them he starts to get uncomfortable selling to things they do and has to decide whether or not he'll partake in the things they do or if he'll do what he feels is right according to God's word.
Bobby Bryant IIYeah part of the book includes three main scriptures that, that we we put in the book. And so our hope was that Akia is to reading, maybe memorize the scriptures. The main point even though the emphasis, again, the story is focused on cheating, is to teach at a young age that no matter what you face even though it's the stories for kids, we believe it's good for adults as well. No matter what you face, you can always find a scripture in, in the word of God, the Bible, to help you get to that process I hope help you solve that problem. And so our thought again, is that starting with kids, anything that you practice as a kid to, as you get older, it is gonna get easier. By the time you're an adult, it's more natural. It is easier. So if you're practicing as from a young age Yeah. How to apply guys word to every, any problem that you face or any challenge that you. By the time you're an adult, you're just, again, it's, it is natural or it's easier. Not easy, but easier.
Timmy EatonAnd is that kind of the vision of this is it's a series and then you take different morals or different teachings, like this would be about cheating and then you do one about honesty and one about standing up for what's right or whatever. Is that kind of the idea?
Bobby Bryant IIWe think so. There's so many different things we can focus on. But yes, that, yes.
Timmy EatonAnything to add to that, BJ and Ava?
Ava BryantYes. In this book we thought it was important to emphasize integrity. Because in this world we believe it's important to be the light. So we believe that we're supposed to not be like everyone else do what everyone else is doing. We're supposed to do the right thing. So we believe that even though it may be tempting to just go with the crowd that we need to make sure that we're doing what's right no matter what anyone else says, the RM standard is what God's word says. So we believe that teaching kids that through this book is really useful.
Timmy EatonAnything else?
Bobby Bryant IIOne of the reasons, again not to sound too repetitive, why, again, we focus on the word of God is what we always tell our kids is that as parents, my wife and I, we know that parents are gonna make mistakes. That they can always say mom or dad, you did this. Because we're imperfect. But you can never say that to an imperfect guy. Who never makes mistakes. So when God is the standard and his word is the standard, and that's what we all follow, then there's really no, no excuse. So yeah, you can say, Hey, dad, your dad you messed up. Okay, that's true. But what does God say is always a foundation. And so again, if you're following that as just a foundation, then you'll be fine.
Timmy EatonSo again, to my audience trusting Timothy, a story about cheating. Definitely want to encourage people to look that up and to check it out. What is the Christ Lit Book Award?
Joseph BryantSo that, that's an award that we submit our book for that it recognizes Christian authors such as ourselves and they award it to books that they feel did a great job of teaching God's word and sending a good message. So cool. We were we're very grateful to have one day award.
Timmy EatonYeah. That's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, go ahead. I just have a couple of other questions now you guys are in Southern California, right? Yes. Yes. And what's the homeschool world like there? I think a lot of people and this is where stereotypes can be dangerous 'cause they'll be like, oh man, it's Ca California wouldn't seem like the most ideal place to homeschool, like the people that I've interviewed and stuff like that. It just seems like a place that seems a lot of regulation and a lot of oversight. And so what's it like? Tell us what it's like and where you are.
Bobby Bryant IIWe're, we were blessed to get through the process without any major changes. Right now the ability to homeschool is still definitely possible in in California. We're hoping that doesn't change. We were able to benefit from it, so we're hoping other families will be able to benefit the whole school homeschool process as well. Yeah. But as far as regulations I don't think we really had any restrictions. We made sure just in case there were changes that we partnered up with a homeschool program so that again, our records were kept. Test scores were kept. So we made sure that everything was covered and protected. At least right now the ability to homeschool there's freedom to do it here in California.
Timmy EatonAnd how big's the co-op that you guys typically get involved with?
Bobby Bryant IIRight now? It ranges any, anywhere between, for the time we were, did it anywhere from 75 to a hundred families.
Timmy EatonReally? Wow. And is that like community or is that through church or what is that through you typically?
Bobby Bryant IICommunity.
Timmy EatonWow. And like Joseph, you were saying you played in a homeschool league, right?
Joseph BryantYes. Some, yes.
Timmy EatonYeah, so because that's not available everywhere. Any other comments on that? And just like what it's like to homeschool there? So you don't feel limited in what you can do and in the freedoms and in the flexibility that homeschooling offers where you live.
Bobby Bryant IIWe didn't again, for fortunately there was always that concern that things could change. Given some of the restrictions in other areas of California, that can be concerning. But fortunately it, it never touched homeschooling when we homeschooled. And right now I think it's still predictable. So I would still recommend it still here in, in California as well.
Timmy EatonAwesome I did my research on home education when I was doing my doctorate degree. And one thing that I was fascinated with was how many African American families are turning to homeschool? I don't know if you guys have been like up on the statistics of it, but like it says it's the fastest growing group of homeschoolers in the us. And do you find that are there a lot of African American families? 'cause where I live. There's a few, but I live in a place where there's not a lot of African Americans, whereas I grew up in Chicago and I wonder, if I were to go back to Chicago where I grew up, would I find that a bunch of people have said that they prefer that way of educating their families. Do you have any insight into that at all?
Bobby Bryant IIThat's interesting. No, I haven't heard any statistics and from what we've s seen I wouldn't say a lot that we're aware of. Even in our family family, friends we're unique as far as a homeschooling really. Yes.
Timmy EatonHow have your, how's like your family, Bobby, how have they responded? What did they think when you and your wife were like, I think we're gonna homeschool?
Bobby Bryant IIInitially there was that that concern. For sure. Again, and just like me the biggest concern with the family was the. The socialization. Yes. Yeah I think everybody feels good that, as far as the learning, you can do that, but at least from in, in our family the biggest concern was the socialization. But I think as we slowly went through the homeschool process our parents more family members actually became fans of homeschooling. Even if they didn't maybe go down that path, they realized there were a lot of benefits to homeschooling that they didn't realize. And we we know I'm sure you can attest as well going through public schools, there's other challenges that other family members were experiencing through public school. As Ava talked about that we never had to worry about which I, I'm familiar going through public school myself, those situations that those family members are talking about, those challenges socially that, we're concerned about socialization, but there's a lot of negatives with socialization in public school that we may forget as we focus on, on, on the homeschool. But yeah, I think they slowly came around family and friends and so even if they didn't maybe personally go through that route, they realized that we made a good decision.
Timmy EatonYes. That's something, one of the most common things that my wife and I talk about is I'll come home and she'll tell me that she had a conversation with somebody in the community or wherever, and they'll talk about or it'll be a group of women or something like that. And they'll talk about all the different things that their kids are struggling with in school. And then when she comes into the conversation, they'll be. How, why would you choose homeschooling? That's crazy. And she just looks at 'em like you just listed off like a thousand things that were weird about school and again not to not to categorize it into one thing, but it is interesting and just so clear that when you choose to homeschool, you just get rid of all of the undesirables of the public institution. Yes. That's just very, that's very like common sense, but it's significant. Like you just get rid of all of it and yes. And un unless you introduce yourself back into it some way. But I'm just saying and some people are fine with that. I'm just saying it is a pretty easy decision. If the undesirables for families are big enough, then you can just like, just get rid of all of them by homeschooling. And so I agree. I agree. That's a pretty powerful position that people can take
Bobby Bryant IIgoing back to socialization again with the main concern. What I realized is that it doesn't matter really if you're public school if to go up through public school or homeschool.
Timmy EatonYeah,
Bobby Bryant IIyour personality is your personality. So if you're introvert, you're probably gonna be introvert in public school and in homeschool, if you're talkative or extrovert, you're probably gonna be the same way public school or are homeschooled as well. Again same family, same household, grew up the same way, but three different total person different per personalities is what I'm trying to say.
Timmy EatonAmen.
Bobby Bryant IIIt comes down to your personality really
Timmy Eatonwell, and the thing that I always say, 'cause people always talk about weirdo and all that kind of stuff, and I'm going, I as somebody who's been in the education system my whole career there, there are a huge variety of kids in homeschool. There's a huge variety of kids in all other learning places like the public school. Yes. And my comment is always apple and trees, like kids come from their parents and they come from their environment. Yes. And yes, the school has a, an influence. On that. So as parents, you have to decide, are those influences the ones we want? And and if they are, carry on. Make your own choice. And that's not even always, like for us that wasn't even one of the higher reasons why we homeschool, like we homeschooled for the time together and the flexibility and the productivity. Like not wasting time in lines and on buses and Yes. Sending them off without a meal and rushing them off in the morning when they should have good sleep. Like all those public school things are like, I don't know, in the 2030 reason it's way down, but then they are pluses for us. Like we, we like that there's this positive learning environment and that we have control of and other things and we feel like we're preparing them. For the world they're entering instead of sheltering or isolating. We feel like it's more of a preparation. And yes. Yeah. Yes. Is has been such a fun conversation. And again, I just encourage all my audience to, to check out the Bryants and all that they have and we'll have show notes on that. Let me just leave you with the, you guys got the last thought. So we will we'll start with Joseph and just work our way over to Dad and just any final thoughts, any any final counsel to families that are thinking about homeschooling but are shy to pull the trigger? 'cause they're going, oh man, this is scary. And what are our families gonna think and whatever. Any thoughts in a in the final words here?
Joseph BryantI think if I were to give advice to families continue homeschooling and worried about how successful they would be with it my, my favorite player Stephan Curry I like what he says. Success is not an accident. Success is actually a choice. And when you choose to do homeschooling you make a choice to try to better your family. And when you give your alter that, I think that's where the success is gonna be. So I think if you're considering homeschooling, just stick with it. Push onto it. And if you do that, I think you can have everything you need to succeed in it.
Timmy EatonI like that idea. Like success is a choice, right? It's not haphazard. It's not up in the air, man. You decide. Very cool. Bj, go ahead man.
Bobby Bryant IIIThe be it's a homeschooling set. You get to teach your own way. You don't have to worry about how letting other people, letting teachers teach your kids. You get to worry about yourself. You get to choose how you teach your kids. And if you're worried about what are instinct and the don't, you shouldn't do things based on what other people think. Do things way
Timmy Eatonthank you very much, man. So well said Ava.
Ava BryantI believe that homeschooling is very worth it. And so with everything I believe that nothing that's worth it is easy. So I believe that it is going to be some work, but I believe that because of the importance of it, I believe that you should keep going. And also we know as Christians that we have the Lord. We believe that the Lord will give us strength. So on days where you feel like it's not working out or it's not worth it anymore, it's just rely on the Lord and he'll get you through that. That's what we did. There were some tough days with learning and different challenges, but as Christians we still relying on the Lord and his word and we, we got through. Just be encouraged that there, there is a reward at the end that if the final product of being strong strong Christians and strong in the word. And and ready for the world. So I believe that this is a really great and great process for homeschooling.
Timmy EatonThank you so much. Appreciate that. And Bobby, go ahead and get the final, yeah. So as a dad, a parent,
Bobby Bryant IINo regrets at all with homeschooling. I think it was one of the best decisions we made as a family. As Ava said, challenging, but in a good way. I love the countless hours we spent as a family. Again, the flexibility being able to focus on as we just, and teaching the important things the essentials that may be missed in the public school uh, area. Teaching our own pace the flexibility morning, maybe afternoon lesson maybe evening lesson. So so much flexibility and so many benefits of homeschooling that hopefully will encourage people to, to check it out more. I'll just maybe in with my favorite scripture Proverbs three, five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him. He'll direct your paths. And the key word there is trust, which is one of the parts of, in our book, trusting Timothy Trust in the Word of God. Yeah.
Timmy EatonThank you so much you guys for taking time. You guys, this is the Bryant family. Appreciate your time. Thanks for being with me. Thank you for having us. That wraps up another edition of this Golden Hour podcast. If you haven't done so already, I would totally appreciate it if you would take a minute and give us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It helps out a lot, and if you've done that already, thank you much. Please consider sharing this show with friends and family members that you think would get something out of it. And thank you for listening and for your support. I'm your host, Tim Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.