This Golden Hour

112. Scott Holloway: Carpenter, Pastor, Homeschool Dad

• Timothy Eaton

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In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Scott Holloway from Saskatchewan. Scott is a pastor, carpenter, and homeschooling father of ten children ranging from 8 months to 21 years old. Scott’s first exposure to homeschooling came as a high school student when his parents made the decision to start homeschooling during a teacher strike. He never went back, and he and his wife have homeschooled their children from the beginning to the present. Scott reflects on the flexibility, individualized pace, and freedom from negative school experiences that made homeschooling a positive choice. As a parent, Scott and his wife have embraced a classical education model, tailoring curriculum to each child’s needs and interests. As a pastor and independent carpenter, Scott discusses the challenges and blessings of managing work, ministry, and a large family. Tune in to this episode to learn about how large homeschool families do it, and glean some tips from the Holloways’ intentional parenting.


Books and Resources

The Well-Trained Mind

The Intentional Father

Don’t Say Um

The Mystery of History

The Story of the World

This Golden Hour

Scott Holloway:

as a parent, you have so much more of an insight and a sense of. Your child, who they are, what their needs are much more than any teacher could ever have and so you can see where they're going. You can have the sensitivity to see, okay, this curriculum's not working, let's change it to something else. And and you can connect with them in ways that no one else can.

Timmy Eaton:

Hi. 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're listening to this Golden Hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with Scott Holloway from Saskatchewan. Scott is a pastor, carpenter and homeschooling father of 10 children, ranging from eight months to 21 years old. Scott's first exposure to homeschooling came as a high school student. When his parents made the decision to start homeschooling during a teacher strike, he never went back, and he and his wife have homeschooled their children from the beginning to the present. Scott reflects on the flexibility, individualized pace, and freedom from negative school experiences that made homeschooling a positive choice. As a parent, Scott and his wife have embraced a classical education model, tailoring curriculum to each child's needs and interests. As a pastor and independent carpenter, Scott discusses the challenges and blessings of managing work ministry and a large family. Tune into this episode to learn about how large homeschool families do it, and glean some tips from the Holloway's intentional parenting. Welcome back to this Golden Hour podcast today. We're very excited to have with us Scott Holloway from Saskatchewan. Thanks for being with us.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, glad to be on the podcast today.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. Thank you very much. And we met in May at the HA conference in Alberta, and we decided that we would interview each other. So today I'm gonna interview Scott and then afterwards he'll interview me and we'll have a good time. But lemme just share a brief bio of Scott and then we'll jump into things. Like I said comes from Saskatchewan is a homeschool father of 10, ranging from eight months to 21. And that's our kids as well. Only we have six kids that range from 12 to 21. And then add anything you want to tell us from your bio or just anything you wanna say at the beginning here.

Scott Holloway:

I homeschooled through high school and then yeah, once became a parent, we decided to homeschool our kids. And and so yeah we live here in the Kingsley area and I work as a pastor and a carpenter and yeah, it's a pretty full life here,

Timmy Eaton:

How do you balance that because that's heavy. All those kids, pastor and carpenter, how does that work?

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, it's a challenge, we just try to just schedule our time and make sure that we're keeping everything where it needs to be. And there's a bit of flexibility there, like with me having my own business, I can fit things in here and there according to my schedule. And yeah, it, it works. And of course with having older kids too they're helping out now with a lot of different things so that really makes it work Good.

Timmy Eaton:

So are you basically an independent contractor then? Like you do your own business as far as what work you'll take on?

Scott Holloway:

Yeah.'cause I'm a carpenter and so in this area pretty well people have different jobs, so just really, it's been mostly by word of mouth. And I've had tons of work here, like never really lacked for work. It's usually more challenge of figuring out how I'm gonna get it all done kind of thing in the right. And so it, it's been a blessing like lord's really provided through that. And it's been a good way to. Meet people in the community. And as well, it's been an opportunity for my older boys to be able to help out and learn a bit about working and some of the carpentry skills. And even on some of the, if I have to do like painting or staining some of the older girls now are helping me with that a bit too. So we all a thing we can do together.

Timmy Eaton:

And it's

Scott Holloway:

been,

Timmy Eaton:

And what's the breakdown of girls and boys?

Scott Holloway:

We got six boys, four girls.

Timmy Eaton:

And how many are still at home? They're all still at home. Oh, cool.

Scott Holloway:

And it's working good.'Cause we've got two that are graduated and my oldest daughter she's she's got a job at the library and then she's been writing books herself. And then she's taken some courses by correspondence. Wow. And the other one that's graduated my oldest son, he's apprenticing as a mechanic right now. And we're not in a rush to kick him outta the nest. We just, might as well have'em here. And then just allows them to, save up their money. So then that way when the time comes, they can put a down to payment on a house or something like that. And they're not having to do the whole rent thing any longer than they have to.

Timmy Eaton:

And I like the idea of apprenticing and your daughter doing classes by correspondence and avoiding that school debt and as much as you can. And so we're on the same page. I like that. In fact that today, just today I was talking to some people in the community to let my youngest son who is more hands on and he really wants to job shadow and volunteer. Just before 14, but he he wants to get started on that and look into the trades. And so yeah, we just are getting on that today, so maybe if we can can you tell us a little bit about'cause when were you homeschooled yourself and what was that like for you? And tell us a little bit about that.

Scott Holloway:

Sure. So what ended up happening? It was in grade nine for me. Like I grew up in kind of East Central Alberta and what ended up happening three quarters of the way through grade nine we had a teacher strike and it at the time almost we were wondering, okay, are they even going to come back right before the school year ends? And so fairly quickly and I would say it was a mutual decision with my parents and myself. We decided to start, like just to finish out the school year using the Alberta Distance Learning Center curriculum. And so we did that and once we got a taste of that, we just decided why go back? And we just kept doing it and did it all through high school and really enjoyed it.

Timmy Eaton:

And you were in grade nine at the time.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, grade nine. And there's a lot of I think reasons why we saw that it was good. Like for one, we had some issues with like bullying and other shenanigans that I'd been dealing with for a few years in junior high. And being free of all that was a big plus. And then there was different things with it too is, you could work at your own pace. So if I wasn't understanding something, I could stay on it till I got it. But if it was something I did understand, I could just keep going.

Timmy Eaton:

Yes. And

Scott Holloway:

so loved the flexibility of it and and I found like really the Alberta Distance Learning Center, like they, they did a really good job of assembling the curriculum. Like my parents didn't have to have a lot of oversight with me that could essentially work through it. And then if I had some issues, like there was numbers to call that I could call teachers and they were always great to help with things and. Once we got a taste of it, it's yeah, we're not going back.

Timmy Eaton:

And how many siblings did you have at the time that were also homeschooling?

Scott Holloway:

I had two other siblings that were older and like by that time my older brother, oldest brother had graduated.

Timmy Eaton:

Gotcha. And

Scott Holloway:

my other brother he was, he still finished? High school through the public school, but he didn't have some of the issues that my class did. And it made sense for him and for my situation, it just yeah, it went well. And we just thought once we got a sense of what it was like that Yeah. This is. We wanna do and yeah. Really enjoyed it.

Timmy Eaton:

And so everyone was on the same page. Your parents and the kids, did you have younger siblings that were also homeschooling at the time, or

Scott Holloway:

no, I was the youngest. Oh, good. So it was just me and but yeah, it it worked out well'cause like mom was home. And then like my dad was doing car work and so it was actually a blessing too.'cause occasionally he could use a hand and so I'd be available to help.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. And,

Scott Holloway:

And that, that's actually helped once I got into my apprenticeship because like I'd done enough working for him that actually was able to count towards kinda my first year. Of of work experience. For program. So that, that was a blessing too.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. How, when you think of the kind of, the way you experienced it in that transition, when those teachers were on strike how does it like, compare to how you and your wife do things with your kids? What you were doing then? Is it anywhere close to how you guys do things now?

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, there's some similarities we just did the Alberta Distance Learning Center curriculum'cause it was available and it was we figured have a, have diploma for sure, and we just went with it. But then it was as. It got to be our time to be homeschooling parents. I would say like the distance learning center in Saskatchewan really isn't set up like it was in Alberta. I would say honestly they were probably decades behind what Alberta had.'cause like when we started they were just really getting a curriculum together.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

And and the thing was too. And I appreciate this with Saskatchewan as I would like, and I'm not familiar with the regulations with Alberta right now. I think they, they've certainly changed since I was homeschooling there, but in Saskatchewan they give us tremendous freedom. And so basically what they want is at the start of the year, you give an education plan Of what you're gonna teach them and what you're going to get them, whatever goals, educational goals, and then at the end of the year, you demonstrate to them. That you've met your goals. And so that can be not only with giving their grades, but giving a portfolio of their work. And so that really gives you a lot of flexibility.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

And kinda the blessing too.'cause I know like when we started homeschooling, when I was in high school, we started going to the Alberta. Home Education Association conventions in Red Deer. And and it was a blessing.'Cause of course for my folks, you you go there and you discover people that they knew that it also made the decision to homeschool. And they really enjoyed it. And they even went after I graduated for many years just to be a part of it. But I know going there, it just, it gave you a sense of just. How many tremendous choices you have for curriculum. And and so that's thinking of those things in the back of our mind as we got to the place of where we were gonna harm school we thought, okay, yeah, we don't, because of the freedom we have, we don't have to limit things and we can really pick and choose to give our kids the education that. We want and have it be as, as full as we want it to be. And and that's really I would say one of the things, notice like even though the Alberta Distance Learning Center curriculum was good, it was based on what was there and I found. Like with English, that even though you had more choices when you were doing it by distance learning?

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

There wasn't a lot of what we'd call classical literature was a lot more modernistic and I would say not always enjoyable to read. And then with social studies, I found that, even though social studies is supposed to be like history, economics and civics all pushed together and to give you all that well-rounded idea of some of these things you need to know that even back then it was like very limited what the history was taught. And and it was usually picking things and telling it from a certain perspective. And then there was. A lot of things even back then, like I know there was like one whole module on or part of a module on like acid rain. And which was like at that time was supposed to be this earth shattering problem that the world needed to fix thing. And and so it was like seeing what was there. And I loved history and loved to read, and it was okay, we're missing out on a lot that's there. And so one of the things with my wife and I is we were researching and trying to decide what we wanted to do. We came across the book the Well-Trained Mind. Yeah. By Susan Weiser and Jesse Wise. Yes. And that introduced us to. The whole idea of the trivium, of the classical education where you have first four years is like the grammar stage. Next four is a logic stage, and then the third is the rhetoric stage. And with that as well, like teaching a bunch of history and getting kids into the classics of literature and other things. And for us. Being Christians, we wanted to have something that would reinforce and compliment our belief system and not be like fighting against that or being hostile to it. And we found that whole kind of mindset of teaching to be, yeah, this is what we want to do. I know when we started it was a bit like I had more time and so we were able to do quite a bit more. And I know what we did for history was I dunno if you've familiar with the mystery of history, it's a four year course and it goes from ancient history up to the present day and, it lays very much from a Christian perspective. There's other ones, like I know Susan Weisberg does Story. Yeah, the Story of the World. But I know like we used that and it was great because like it would teach different things, but then a lot of times with the lessons, there'd be different activities. And say for instance we were learning about the Sumerians and they there, they wrote with Unifor on these clay tablets. And so an exercise with the kids is you get and have a little stylus that you'd make out of something and then. They could like basically pretend to be making, writing something down on uniform. And then when we studied the middle Ages one of the things we did as an activity was a medieval feast. Where we all dressed up and we basically made a meal based on what ingredients they would've had at that time. And and so it was a lot of fun and it was like reinforcing And then I think we started I think with English and Math, I think we were using Rod and Staff for quite a while to start with. And then science, I remember we just got books and were making up our own lessons for different things on animals and plants and things. And so that was where we started. Like it's changed over the years. Like sometimes we found. As the kids are different, like the curriculum that we got for'em didn't actually work for'em. And that I think is another tremendous blessing of homeschooling because in public school it's almost like they're committed to using a certain curriculum. Yes. And it might

Timmy Eaton:

be

Scott Holloway:

horrible

Timmy Eaton:

or outdated or inaccurate or whatever. Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. Exactly right. And, but they might,'cause they're committed to it. Like you might ruin a whole generation before you decide, okay, yeah this is no good anymore. Yeah.'cause as a parent, when you're homeschooling, you just say, okay, yeah, this is not working. Let's find something else. Yeah. And and so we've done that at different times.'cause I know for some of my kids, like things like math and rereading came really quick. For others, it took a little bit longer, and so we had to adjust and we had that freedom to do

Timmy Eaton:

From your description, it sounds like your experience was quite a bit different from your, like your own experience homeschooling just because you had more exposure to it. More time. What year was it that your parents decided to homeschool when you were in grade nine?

Scott Holloway:

This should've been 1992.

Timmy Eaton:

So in 92, and then I could see how they would've loved going to those conferences to find oh, there's other people doing this. Because, that was still pretty early on from the resurgence of homeschooling to find like-minded people. So what did your wife think? Did she have exposure to homeschooling before you kind of were like, Hey, or did you kind of suggest that you do that? How did you guys decide to actually do homeschooling in your family?

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, from my wife'cause she was raised in a Christian school and and like her dad was a pastor and they used like the a CE curriculum and and it worked well for, but I remember her dad saying if he had to do it over again, he might have chosen to do homeschooling. And I think we just had different conversations and just decided, hey, this is what we wanna do.'cause of course, there wasn't a Christian school available here as an option. And so we just decided to do it. And

Timmy Eaton:

like from the be beginning with your daughter, like your, with your oldest, you just started right from the beginning.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, right from the very beginning we started and and it was a thing, right? Like we went to, different homeschooling conventions. I know we went to the one in Saskatchewan, but we also went to the one in Alberta. I think our, my folks actually paid for registration a couple times.'cause they said, okay, we wanna, this is our investment

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. In our

Scott Holloway:

grandchildren's education. And so we would go there and get the curriculum that we would want and then just use it and to start with, it was kind of like, and, and part of it,'cause I had more time. I was leading the way and then my wife was kinda learning how kind of the oversight of it and different things. And then, so now as it's, things have transitioned she does most of the oversight of it. And we're using primarily the a CE curriculum for a lot of things just to as part of that educational plan and meeting requirements. But then really we have so much more beyond that, that we can add in because one of the blessings of being in Saskatchewan, and maybe they have this in Alberta, I don't know, but. All the public libraries in Saskatchewan are connected and so you can do like an inter library loan. Yeah. And so any book in the whole province of Saskatchewan you can check it out and and so it's been Yeah. Same in Alberta. Yep. Okay, good. That's excellent. But, that's been a blessing because it's really, each of the kids have a library card and they can go on the the website and decide what they want to do. And so basically whatever they're interested in learning. I know the girls have done a lot of books on cooking and baking and and then boys like on mechanics or survival stuff or whatever right. That they wanna do. And so that's been like augmenting their education. And then my role is right now like a tutor. If they're having trouble with math, I usually step in and help. And then, for me, it's teaching more some of the different life skills. I know with my older boys trying to teach'em things about like manhood, what that means and just the sense of taking on that responsibility. But then I know, so what

Timmy Eaton:

would that give us an example of what that might look like? That'd be helpful for pe some dads to hear what would that look like? Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. I would say it got me thinking about it was book the Intentional Father by John Tyson. And it kind of had the thought of trying to give him a rite of passage and a process to train them for manhood. And so learning as we go. But for me, the four areas that I've speaking to them on is the idea of a man being the provider protector being a leader, and also being a communicator. And so trying to speak to those different things. And like sharing different things about just, some of the financial things of money management and things. Some of it is course protecting started to teach'em like different things about self-defense. With leadership. It's having'em take on different roles in that way. And then communication is I know one thing that we're working on right now is, I got this one book by Michael Chad Hoeppner, called Don't Say um, and it's on communicating effectively. And so we're going through that and there's different exercises there, and it's the idea that like for speaking in public and just communicating generally, right? That having them like be able to speak so people like enunciate so people can understand them. And a lot of it, of course. Taking steps to get over the nervousness so that then you can not have that kind of negative feedback loop of, okay. I'm nervous, I'm trying to say something. Oh, that you're looking at me funny. I'm more nervous. Yeah. I like, but instead where you kind learn to control that'cause it's a thing like they all have something that they can contribute and you want them to be able to get that across effectively. Yeah. And trying to help them in that finding ways to do that.

Timmy Eaton:

I like those four roles that you pointed out. Providing protecting lead and communicating. In the course that I do, that PhD course that we might have talked about proactive homeschool dad. Mine really align with those. There's six different identities, but what I like about provide, protect, lead, communicate, yeah, you might say, Hey, we're gonna actually do a course or a book, but the fact is. They're gonna see that embodied in their dad one way or the other and their moms. And so they're gonna see that emulated. And our example is gonna mean a lot. And then also the thought I had was, it's an ongoing lesson. It's not like, okay, we did the course on communication. Then that's done. That's an ongoing thing. Providing, protecting. I like to hear that your kids actually work with you and that you're doing these things as a family.'cause, you know what better way to teach than by example and emulating. So anyway, that resonated with me. What was the process of you and your wife getting on the same page about your purpose? Obviously you had a worldview that was the same when you got married but like, how did you make sure you were on the same page as far as role divisions and responsibilities and how you would contribute to homeschooling and what she would do? It sounds like the beginning, you said. You were around more, so you were more involved as far as in the actual homeschooling, but how did you guys navigate the idea of being on the same page about what was needed for all of your children?

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. I would say like one of the blessings that we've had, it's been a strength of our marriages that we've been good communicators. Like we actually, how we. We first got to know each other as we actually corresponded for about six months before we actually met. And so that laid a good foundation. And so with a lot of it, like we talk through things and get a sense of where the kids are at and what they need. And it's I would say with my wife with different things like, there's some stuff that she was unsure of, but then was able to give some thought of how it's done or at least show how. And then got to be a point where she felt that she could manage it. And just with things changing, it became more necessary for her to do but really she does a very good job of it. And just oversees just the, all the educational plans and yeah, setting the portfolios and she does so much of that and then plans out for the curriculum. And she does so much now, and it's really tremendous. And I find it's neat too because just with some of the things I know with my one daughter that's 15 like she really likes baking and things and who knows if she might open a bakery, but um, Leah thought, okay, not much since with math, having her learn like polynomials and calculus and things, she's never gonna use that. And so she got her like more of a business math course and like banking and stuff. And so she's learning about interest and tax and all these other things that would be very helpful to her if she ran her own business. Yeah. And so it's really seeing that and, like she's searching through some of that stuff and been able to identify some of the kids' needs and be able to find the curriculum that meets that need.

Timmy Eaton:

I think that's a good principle that you're highlighting because I can imagine, much of our audience that's listening to this going. Wow. 10 kids from eight months to 21. How in the world do you manage that? And I get that, I understand that is overwhelming because being a parent is hard. Anyway, in throwing homeschool on top of it. But then when I think of what a teacher faces in the school and yes, your kids have a huge range. But I, a lot of people mistakenly see like the role of a homeschool parent is to be like a teacher in the school, which is so different. But what would you say what does it look like in your home, like on a daily basis or it's September 15th right now. What did you and your wife do in preparation for this coming year to meet the needs of such a wide range of ages?

Scott Holloway:

I would say like we, we were able to assemble the curriculum and then have it basically ready to get started. And for us, a typical day would be say the kids have chores because we live on an acreage and and so they, they do different things to start with and then usually the actual time of schooling usually starts about nine. And for those that work at it efficiently, usually they're done fairly quickly and they have the rest of the day, the others that choose to procrastinate, then they're stuck doing it. And so it's its own sense of that way builds in self-discipline just naturally.

Timmy Eaton:

And who, between your wife and you who's the follow up? Or is it self-directed mostly or are you guys following up saying, Hey, no, oh no, you gotta get that done first. Or what's it like in your home as far as that stuff?

Scott Holloway:

Essentially with my wife like she makes sure that like sees where they're at and then when I come home, like I confirm, okay, did you get done? And sometimes it's oh no, I'm not quite done yet. And so it's, okay, you gotta, yeah. Keep working on it. And just to keep'em accountable on that way. And then it's with different things especially with the younger ones Lee has to be a bit more hands-on with them. And then of course there's different things like tests and other things that she runs'em through. I know with the ACE curriculum, it's set up where you can be more or less self-taught. Yes. But then if you have trouble, then you can get, like we can help out. And that's a lot of times my role, especially with math. If people are having some trouble, then I can help them wait through that and have, make sense of it with them.

Timmy Eaton:

What about extracurricular with that many kids and, sports, music, theater, how have you guys tackled those different things that present themselves for all families, but homeschool families as well?

Scott Holloway:

With the sports themselves, like we don't really get them too much involved in like kind of organized sports. And part of the big reason for that is'cause like we'd always be running around to different practices.'cause we live out of town and like in a lot of times games, other things are on a Sunday. And of course that kind of conflicts with church. And so we do plenty of stuff at home. Like we, we play baseball and soccer and other things and we'll go skating sometimes and other things like that. And so we stay active as a family. When it comes to music there's a local lady that gives lessons. And so for the last several years we've had several that have been taking piano lessons and you fit it in as part of the time and'cause it's usually once a week for something like that. And so yeah, we make that work and fit it in with the rest of our schedule. And the handy thing is when you have several taking it like the others can, bring their school along and work on it until it's their turn kind of thing. Yeah. Yes. It's making efficient use of the time. And yeah, we've done the same thing.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

And then I would say too different things in as just being part of church learning to sing together and then learning some of the different things of whether it might be song leading or managing the sound system or the live stream or things like that. Each of'em are learning and like we're learning that together a bit right now actually just how to improve things and'cause we have some equipment but if you don't know how to use it as effectively as you could, then the sound's not gonna be as good. It doesn't make sense to get a whole bunch more equipment if you don't know how to use that either, right? Yes. And so we're. Learning, okay, how do you operate this equipment? We're hoping to do it away with some of the older ones, the younger ones almost be like pilot and copilot. So say if somebody was sick that somebody's ready to fill in. Yeah. And they're apprenticing under them in a way. And so it's so yeah, there's a lot of different opportunities and we just try to. To make the most of what we can do. And it's a blessing, right? Like really a person should spend their whole life learning. And you don't have to have these constructed times. Okay, this time you're learning and this time you're just vegetating. Yeah. That's not how we're to live life, right? No. Like you always

Timmy Eaton:

learn all the time.

Scott Holloway:

And for my wife and I like just. Different things that we're trying to learn and grow in ourselves. And it's a blessing just how things have changed now and like I enjoy with different podcasts.'Cause it could be something like, say if I'm, even if I'm working on a job I can be listening to podcasts while I'm working kind of thing. Yeah. And different ones on. History or other things like that or self-improvement like that's something that it can invest in myself while I'm completing this task kind of thing. I think we wanna have that kind of culture in our family where we're trying to better ourselves and and learn and grow and keep pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone. I was wondering so that we can become better.

Timmy Eaton:

I was wondering I'm sure my audience would be interested to know, like at the range of children that you have. How have you navigated like technology and phone news and stuff like that as they get, you again, eight months to 21. That's the whole gamut. So how do you introduce that and like how have you guys managed that as parents and what are the kids responses been to that?

Scott Holloway:

We don't watch a lot of tv. What we tend to do is we maybe have a movie night once a week. I joke with them, of course you watch too much tv, you bring turn to mush. But it's the thing, right? Reading books I think is a lot more intellectually stimulating for them and they can learn a lot more from them.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. It's active, it's not passive. Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

And I know like with with the computer, like we allow'em to use it a bit, but not too much.'cause we want it more to be okay, are you doing something productive on the computer? If not, then you really don't need to be on there. We're learning to use it and I know with like in terms of cell phones we don't have, the kids have cell phones too much. Once they graduate usually we get'em a cell phone to start with and then they look after it themselves after that. But that's more just for connecting if there's an issue or something like that. And and so I think for all of us navigating that because. Phones can be distracting. You can waste a lot of time on them. I can be guilty of that myself. And so it's learning to manage that well.

Timmy Eaton:

So how do you respond to people like when they say,'cause I mean like that I'm on the same page and a lot of people, especially that come from a faith base are really trying to be very intentional about like social media then you'll have people and even amongst faith-based people, you have people that are doing it totally differently. And they'll say something like how are they going to contribute in a world that this is the way it's going when they haven't been exposed to it or used to it? People will say stuff like that and you go. When they're of a maturity, you help them do that. I'm sure you've had that before, especially as a pastor and just as a homeschool family. How do you respond when people say that? Like how, the idea that like, that's the way kids communicate now, so what are you gonna keep'em from having any friends, people say stuff like that. So what do you guys say when people say that?

Scott Holloway:

What I would say is with it, you have to learn, how to manage it and not be managed by it. And even though it's a way of connecting, a lot of times it can be very disconnecting because you're not actually face-to-face. Like you miss a lot of communication. Yes. By not being face to face and, there's,

Timmy Eaton:

yeah. I guess this ties into what you're saying, one of your roles as a dad is to teach them to be communicators and this definitely plays into that. Yeah.

Scott Holloway:

Sometimes'cause it can be like learning to write a good letter. Sometimes you do better because you actually get your full thoughts down paper, what you wanna say, rather than just blurting something out and then having apologize for it. And with so many things, right? Like it's kinda the sense, okay because everybody's doing it is rarely a good reason to do anything. And that's recognizing because they're so into their phone, like they're losing. Kind of their connection with the rest of humanity.

Timmy Eaton:

Real relationships. That's right.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. And it can be very concerning I would say, for some, how far that goes. And so it's helping the kids and us to recognize, okay, we need to, we don't want the phone to become our God, where like we give it all our time and that we. We have to interact with people through it kind of thing, right? That it can be a tool and we need to use it wisely. We don't want it to become our master and things. And so I think just trying to help the kids to, to understand that and of course the necessity of having to show the pattern to follow as a parent and I would say for myself, like it's something I, I need to be better on is just I use my phone for a lot of different things with work and other stuff, but sometimes things we've done, and maybe we should get back to doing it, is like for our cell phones, we had a phone cell and it was just this thing that we made that kind of, when we get home at night, like we put you

Timmy Eaton:

dock it.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. And'cause that way we're having that time together because if I'm working during the day, we don't have that much time in the evenings and we wanna make the most of it. And like it's being wise and in that way and that's something we've done in the past and maybe we should get back into it.'cause it's easy to just yeah. It is

Timmy Eaton:

slip

Scott Holloway:

and not, not realize that that you're spending more time on your phone than you, you mentioned. And

Timmy Eaton:

there are so many priorities that that demand the attention of a family. I know what you mean. It's really takes, again, deliberate, intentional living to stick to the things that we really believe and and that have proven effective. What would you say to what has been the greatest challenge for your family in particular in choosing the homeschooling route, and then after that, what's been, would you say the greatest blessing or the greatest benefit of choosing specifically the homeschool route? So the challenge first and then the benefit, and then I just, I'll close with one other question.

Scott Holloway:

Sure. Trying to think of the challenge. With the kids we haven't seen public school with them to really be able to compare it to, and trying to think of what the actual challenges are. I guess what I would say is obviously it, it asks a lot of us as parents right? And it's of necessity we have to step up. And so that is a challenge. It requires more time of us and attention and focus, and we want to be focused so that if someone's having trouble, they're not getting behind or whatever. And so that I would say is a big challenge of homeschooling. But it's something I think as parents, when you think of the benefits that. You're more than willing to embrace that challenge Yes. And say, yes, I need to do this. And knowing that it's going to in so doing not only will help the kids it'll better oneself at the same time. And so that, I would say is a challenge of personally of just having to be more responsible and step up and be the teacher and the leader that you need to be for the kids. Yes. In terms of the blessing of homeschooling is just the time you get to spend together through the day that I know my wife has said that, right? That just the thought of having it where the kids are away for most of the day and then you only get'em right at the beginning and right at the end. And that's what many people do, but she would miss them. And it's just having that where we can be together and just make memories together and where we can learn together and stuff that it's. There's so much and that's part of the blessing being on an acreage too, is there's a lot of things just around of working together as a family that they're learning different things about say gardening or looking after animals. But yes they're learning how to work hard and, but like we're doing it together and so it's. A lot of good memories from it. And it's certainly something that I think with the kids, like they, we haven't had them ever express a desire to go to public school. Like it's they've enjoyed it tremendously. And it's been a great experience and we just wanna we have no reason why we'd wanna stop homeschooling. Like it's been a benefit to us throughout.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah, throughout the whole time. Thank you for that response. I think that is such a great response and I, it really resonates with our initial reason for homeschooling was to have that quality time together. We've had experiences lately that have really this, my podcast is called This Golden Hour and it stems from that idea that like you have this window of time and then you're preparing these. These, some people call it discipling and other things, but you're preparing your children for the futures that they're gonna have. And it's this small window of time. And we've had experiences very recently that have just told us, man, we're so grateful that we made this choice because that time would've been spent in other places with other people. And so we just don't regret that choice to do that. But what do you tell. People, Scott, when they say I'm nervous to do this, but I want to I don't know if I have what it takes. And there's so much stuff out there to sift through. What do you tell new families that are like I wanna try this homeschool thing?

Scott Holloway:

I would say for them to not be intimidated by it. And I remember years ago and I think it was when I was in high school, we went to a homeschool convention in Alberta. There was a father that, I think he had maybe 13 kids or something like that. Wow. And he was one of the main speakers. And one of the things he said is God's not gonna give you kids and then not give you the ability to provide for them and train them up. And so it, it's really having that. Confidence that okay, God wants you to raise up this child to be a responsible citizen to love him, to love others. And he wants you to succeed and he's going to give you that ability as you need it. And in a sense too, as a parent, like you have so much more of a, of an insight and a sense of. Your child, who they are, what their needs are much more than any teacher could ever have.

Timmy Eaton:

Yes. And,

Scott Holloway:

And so you can see where they're going. You can have the sensitivity to see, okay, this curriculum's not working, let's change it to something else. And and you can connect with them in ways that no one else can. And so for parents yes, there's a bit of anxiety with it and of course you wanna do a good job you don't wanna mess your child up. But it's okay, there's no guarantee that sending a public school is not gonna mess your child up either.

Timmy Eaton:

It's a matter of likelihoods at that point.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. And so it's, the thing is just having that kind of assurance that God is wanting to help you and wants to come alongside and really. He is the example that we follow and he wants to teach us and impart to us that we can impart to others. And yes resting on that and just saying, okay, this is gonna be worth it doing this. And yes, this is going to be hard for me in different ways, but it's gonna be worth it. And so I'm gonna invest in myself so that I can invest in my children. And we're all gonna be better as a result. And so it's really having that that sense and that that's what I would say to somebody starting out just give'em the encouragement that yes, you can do this. Yeah. And it's gonna be worthwhile taking that step.

Timmy Eaton:

And that no one's better equipped as a, as the parent who loves that child. No one's better equipped than you or and your spouse to do that. And I've heard it said that God shapes the back where the burden is placed. And so that's sums up the response you just gave. Last question I was gonna ask you is and I asked this last interview for the first time, but I like it. And so I'm gonna ask you how has this interview been for you?

Scott Holloway:

It's been good. Yeah. We've been able to. Share a lot of different thoughts and it's it was a blessing too,'cause just going back in my memory of just the different experience of homeschooling as a student and then as a parent. Yeah. And like it's all the way along. Like it just a lot of good memories and so thankful that, parents made the choice that they did, and then that we have made the choice we have with all of our kids. And it's it's been a great journey and we've met a lot of great people through it at the different conventions and yeah, it's and so it's good to be able to connect with you here. Yeah. And I think you, that hopefully it'll. With what I share that can be encouraging to other homeschoolers that are listening to your podcast and so yeah, I think it was really good.

Timmy Eaton:

Thank you so much for being here. I'll give you the last word and then we'll we'll finish up.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah. I just want to encourage those of you listening that that homeschooling kids is worthwhile and it'll be just a tremendous experience for you all. And yes, there'll be challenges, but as you learn and grow, like you can overcome them and and just, yeah, I would say just keep at it and you're gonna have some trying days, but those won't last forever, and at the end you'll be glad of the choice that you made.

Timmy Eaton:

Excellent. Thank you so much. This is Scott Holloway everybody. Thanks for taking time today to be with us.

Scott Holloway:

Yeah, thank you for having me on

Timmy Eaton:

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.