Join Priscilla Rahn as she sits down with Marilyn Gore, a remarkable homeschool mother of seven. In this episode, Marilyn shares her profound insights and experiences in homeschooling, emphasizing the significance of wisdom, virtue, and truth as the core pillars of her family’s educational philosophy. Discover how the Gore family navigates the challenges and triumphs of homeschooling in today’s world, and why Marilyn believes that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
Welcome to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. She’s a master educator and author, leading the conversation to restore the American mind through wisdom, virtue, and truth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, hello, hello. How is everybody doing today? Welcome to my show, Restoring Education in America. I’m your host, Priscilla Rahn, and I am so excited that you decided to join the conversation today. You know, we talk about all things education, but I’m so excited to talk with my guest today. She is a mega homeschool mom, and she is my dear friend. I’m excited to welcome to the stage, Ms. Marilyn Gore. Hi, Marilyn. Yeah, you’re on my stage. Your husband, Biff Gore, who we all love, the ambassador of soul, who got a four chair turn on, was it season six? Season six of The Voice, but now you’re on the stage. Um, so for those people who don’t know you, um, you are an amazing homeschool mom. You’re a mom of seven beautiful children. And I just remember I got to hold your baby, Judith. She’s my baby. She’s always going to be my baby. Like I’m sharing her.
SPEAKER 02 :
You, you gave her, gifted her when she was a baby.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know. And it’s amazing. I love our friendship. But let’s, let’s dig into like your homeschool journey. Were your kids always in homeschool? Or was that something that you transitioned your children into?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, they actually always have been in homeschool. Biff and I were married about almost four years before we had Josiah. And Um, when we had her, we just kind of looked at each other and we were thinking about all the options and we just thought, are we going to put this kid in government school? You know, we just couldn’t fathom that. And, um, Biff had been convicted by, um, the Shema in Deuteronomy where it says here, Oh, Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You should love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And these things I’ve taught you today. And, um, it was about the 10 commandments and about God and, you know, him being the ruler, um, of the universe of all things. And he said, teach these things to your children. When you rise up, when you sit in your house and you go in your, on your way and when you lie down and. So that’s all day long. And he thought about his schooling in government school back in Baltimore, Maryland. And, and we thought about my schooling and in private school, or my parents had sacrificed a lot to put us in private school, but we thought that’s really not happening. And. And so we just just together, thank God, because, you know, when we got into the homeschool arena, we just realized so many parents were on the same page. And so the Lord just put us both on the same page. Like, I think we have to do this the way God says and and see what he does. And I love your what you say in your intro. It says restoring education with wisdom, virtue and truth. And I love that. That is that has to be the foundation. So.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I was trying to figure out, OK, what are the most important pillars that, you know, that’s short? Because I have a lot of values, but I thought, OK, those are really important. If we can get back to those three things, it would solve a lot of problems. And I’ve talked to different parents. They have one or two or three kids, but you have seven kids. Does it get easier or does it make a difference once you hit a certain threshold of the number of kids that you’re trying to juggle and they’re all at different grade levels and learning different levels of content? How is it for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, people ask me that all the time. You know, you have such a big age range. How do you do that? And I just simplify and I start with what the Lord gave me that kept me going every day, keeps me going every day, day in and day out. And this is a compilation of verses, but God says, basically, the fear of the Lord is to begin with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. I get to testify to people. I asked, can you think of anything outside of education that you would hope to gain outside of wisdom, knowledge and understanding? And no matter if I’m talking to an atheist, Muslim over the years, they all say, no, I guess that’s education, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. And I tell I get to tell them, well, that is what God says. The fear of the Lord starts with it starts. All those things start with the fear of the Lord. And so the Bible is the foundation for my homeschool. When I do my student evaluations, I always put the Bible as the first textbook for every subject. And it’s true. That’s just what we do in our homeschool.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s beautiful, you know, because children are mind, body and soul. And it’s so important to prepare them because they’re not going to be with you forever. They’re going to grow up and move and start their own lives. You’re not going to be with them everywhere. So it’s important to, in my opinion, raise up children together. that know where to go and who to turn to when they feel alone or when they’re going through a tough time. And so teaching them about that biblical wisdom, I think, is so critical. But here’s my question. I’m sure you’ve heard like misconceptions about homeschool kids, like they’re not going to be socialized. They don’t know how to survive in the real world. You’re isolating them. What are these misconceptions you’ve heard or what are some other misconceptions that you’ve heard?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yes. There’s so many misconceptions, just like the ones you said. And when I first started, when we first started on this journey and we started listening to homeschool teachings and I went to a homeschool conference and they talked about all the objections. And when I first started telling people, one of the objections that they said you’re going to always hear is socialization. And in fact, I did hear that a few times. But really, when I started telling people, it was really during, I mean… the school shootings were really happening a lot, you know, it was after Columbine. And so I had so many people say, oh, I don’t blame you, but yeah, the socialization is, was a big one. And so, you know, I had different answers over the years, but, but people, I mean, you know, Biff, he’s so gregarious and, and, um, so when people meet our family, like, oh yeah, your kids, you know, know how to interact with people, but, um, I also taught in the public school and taught school, I mean, taught children after school programs and taught during, summer programs. And so I’d been around a lot of children. And there were a lot of kids who had social problems that they went to public school, you know, and it didn’t that didn’t, you know, so I, so my answer would vary, you know, I just asked the Holy Spirit to help me. But yeah, there’s good socialization and bad socialization. And when you’re in when you get around a group of people who aren’t really being taught about, you know, the more morals from our Lord and from his word, a lot of times you have the bad socialization and peer pressure and, and we know all the issues with that. And, and so, yeah, people really, I had a hairdresser tell me when we first told him, because I’d been going through it for years before, you know, I got pregnant with Josiah. And then we told him, he said, how are your children going to survive in the world? And yeah, that’s the only, the only one who talked to me like that was like that. What do you mean? How are they going to survive? And so, yeah, there’s a lot of misconceptions, misconceptions about, you know, what they get to do and sheltering. Oh, my goodness. My so my children, you know, my children have kind of grown up on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood praying out there. And and I’m like, I do shelter them, but they heard every cuss word in the book there on the sidewalk. And so so it’s just what what do you want your children to value?
SPEAKER 03 :
Marilyn Gore, I do know your children. I have interacted with your children many, many times, and they are so beautiful. They are kind. As you said, they know how to interact and have a conversation. They’re very smart, too, and they are helpful. I’ve seen them helping Biff at the church and everything. you know, just assisting in so many different ways. And they’re such kind people. You guys are doing an amazing job. I hope you write a book on how to do it because I know it’s not easy, but you’re right. No one’s going to invest in your children and love your children like you are. And I know it’s a big sacrifice because we’re living in a day and age where You’ve got two parents working and you’ve got your kids in daycare and both parents are stressed out and the kids want to go to activities and you’re fighting a headache or all the kids need to do different things and there’s food that needs to be cooked. You’re making a sacrifice in a way, but I think it’s more of an investment. So tell our listeners, though, what’s the ingredient for making homeschooling successful?
SPEAKER 02 :
oh my goodness, the Lord, you know, people say to me all the time, how do you do it? You have all these kids and you’re homeschooling and thank you for saying, you know, they’re smart because so many times I just think, what am I doing? And then someone will come have a conversation and they’ll just say, I was so blown away that, you know, your kid knows this or could converse about that. And I’m like, okay, it’s true what you said, God. So fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. And, um, so that I just, it’s just the Lord and his word and what he says. And I just have to cling to that. It’s true. No matter what my feelings are or what people are saying, or, you know, especially the day in and day out that, you know, if we do it God’s way, we’re going to, we’re going to reap, reap the benefits. So that really is just trusting, trusting him, just trust like that song, trust and obey. And, And that and I just I wanted to be obedient in our homeschool to to uphold the Lord and his word and for them to learn how to behave according to what God says to esteem others better than yourself. And when you have seven children, they all have six siblings each. That’s it’s hard, but it’s a you have lots of opportunities to to. Learn how to esteem others better than yourself when you don’t want to. And so all those all those attributes and characteristics that the Lord says and that we get to work on every day and uphold and uplift. And so I just say I would say the secret is just trusting God, just trusting him day in and day out with everything. So, you know, even, you know, it’s just calling out to God all the time, asking him his help and having even hard conversations with the teenagers. And you’re just sitting there looking at their faces thinking, Lord, help me to answer this with wisdom, your wisdom, and just constantly asking for his help and staying in his word. That’s really, I’d say, the secret because that’s what gives you strength. The scripture says the Lord is the strength of my life. And that’s really, I found that to be true day in and day out with my homeschool.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, so Marilyn, you mean your kids are normal, like hormonal, like middle school teenage? Sinners. Have they gone through their rebellious stage? Yes, yes. OK, so your kids are normal. They’re not abnormal just because they’re homeschooled. There’s nothing magical about being home. They’re normal kids the way God has created them to be, I’m sure. So hypothetically speaking, if public education looked different, do you think you would have sent your kids to public school or because, you know, back in the day, in the early days where children were learning how to read using the Bible and there were more intact families and that was the norm to send your kids to the schoolhouse. Yeah. Do you think if public education, the landscape looked differently, that you would feel comfortable sending your kids to homeschool or do you really start to public school? Or do you firmly believe that the model, this choice of homeschool is the best model, not just for yourself, but for parents in general?
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s a really great question, and I do point back to one of our founders, Dr. Benjamin Rush. He’s one of our just brilliant founders. He was a physician, a medical doctor, and just like a lot of the other founders, they did so many different things. But he knew multiple languages, and he agreed with… Webster, Noah Webster, that there cannot be education without the Bible. And so I would say, yes, I would I would, you know, obviously in conversation with Biff. But if the Bible is a foundation, then I would say that that that is you know, that that is the the best foundation for education. I would say you said in general. This is what Royalty did was they had someone come and tutor their children. So we really know that the tutor model is the best model because you get that individual just attention. And so that is the best model for learning. So, you know, I would say that that is we’ve kind of always known that. And that’s why, you know, you talk about small class size. I mean, you could have one, two, three or seven kids and it’s going to be smaller than any classroom, you know, in government schools. But but I would I would agree with I would say, yes, that we would we would do that if if the Bible is a foundation. Another thing that Benjamin Rush said that that the Bible is better is the best textbook above all other textbooks. And so if it were like it was the first 200 years of compulsory education where the Bible was a textbook, that is when you you know, when we had people who who came came out where they were brilliant. They learned how to learn. And that’s what I tell my children. I’m not trying to teach you everything. I’m trying to teach you how to learn so that God can do whatever he wants with you in life. And so, yeah, I would say if it was, you know, during the first 200 years of composer education where the Bible was a textbook, I think I would be comfortable with that. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, the Bible is really great teaching lessons about good choices and bad choices. And we can learn a lot from the different individuals in the Bible and how God had called them to do certain things and the ones who did step into the courage to be bold and do what God had created them to do. There was lots of reward. And for those who ran or made really bad decisions, there are a lot of lessons to be learned about that. I think the entire book is just a great example of human nature and how God designed humanity. the family and designed us to be in community with one another. I think it’s a really great blueprint for us. For those people who are contemplating homeschool, tell us what’s a typical day like, Marilyn, in your house when it comes Monday morning after the weekend. What’s a typical school day look like for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s so funny. You asked about a typical day. I’m going to start with the fact that, you know, every day, day in and day out, whether you have a newborn or, you know, the teenagers that need, need stuff. I went back to the foundation of the fear of the Lord’s beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. And if we could just get through my, my, requirement every day was for Bible reading and Bible recitation, because I want to get the word in the children too, not just for them to hear it or hear it read, but to get it in them. And we know also that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And that’s more important to me than anything is that they’re going to be saved for all of eternity. That’s more important than almost any accomplishment here on earth. God says, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And so that’s really that’s why I want the word of God in them for them to understand the gospel, for them to understand how to have a relationship with the Lord and end up with him in eternity. And so that was my foundation. I would say that to so many moms, like if you just get the foundation of Bible reading, you know, just your Bible reading and then the whole rest of the day falls apart. It’s a good day or it’s a win. You know, or a lot of times it was Bible reading recitation. Those are my those are my requirements. And then we cleaned or we did this or we did that. But I felt like that was part of homeschooling, too, because it was teaching them how to be responsible and how to get things done that we needed to get done, even if we didn’t get to, you know, more academics. So, yeah, that’s the beginning of our homeschool is we start with the word of God. And I always did my own thing. I never had just a whole curriculum from one place. A lot of people do that. And I’m just I don’t know. I just always feel like I’ve kind of been a rebel at heart. Maybe that’s why to homeschooling. Good to me. You know, I didn’t have to answer to a whole lot of people or anything. And I’m just Biff. Biff always said he was the principal and I was the teacher.
SPEAKER 03 :
So what’s an assessment look like? So as you’re, you know, gathering, this is what we’re going to learn for math and this is social studies and this is literacy. What tools do you use to assess if your children are, you know, progressing the way they need to?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you can see them progressing. You know, that’s why I love how you know your own kids and you can see them learning. You can see them figuring things out. You can see them thinking about things. And that’s one of the things that’s left out of government school now. Right. Is is really thinking, learning how to think and and learning. Just what’s what’s the term that that they it’s kind of a derogatory term now, but rhetoric, you know, that was a big thing that you had to be, you know, pretty versed in rhetoric. And that meant learn how to think about subjects and rhetoric. But then also, you know, for math, we’ll do tests and quizzes and different things. And that’s the beauty of knowing your own child, because Josiah, my oldest, hated math. And I just was asking, Lord, how can I figure out, you know, how to… how to, you know, get through to this girl with, you know, math. And then I found, but she loved reading, but I found a, I found a curriculum that was a reading based math and she loved it. And so, so that’s just another thing about just, tailoring to to your child because you know them and instead of you know having to go along with whatever curriculum is set kind of like how they do in the government school it’s just set you know and you don’t you don’t have a whole lot of options um you know someone would say something about i can’t believe their vocabulary i can’t believe their knowledge of this or that and i think okay they’re learning they’re learning
SPEAKER 03 :
So you create your own, you set the goals for your children and then you create your own assessments for them based on where you want them to end up in the content area. So I’m assuming at Casa de Gore, you guys are learning towards specific grade level goals. Well, BIFCO is at Gore-Krishnan Academy.
SPEAKER 02 :
That makes sense. You know, I’ve always asked the Lord to because I know that each individual child, they’re going to have their own strengths and weaknesses are going to have their own interests. And so I’ve always asked the Lord to give me, you know, help me to. Give them what they need to further, you know, whatever you’re going to do in their lives and whatever field you’re going to put them in. So, yeah, I and even like with schooling with you, you know, you are, you know, in a classroom, you have goals and you don’t always reach them, you know, by the this. We want to get this done by this time. kind of stopped doing that i kind of stopped do you know putting time limits on it and i’m a really relaxed homeschooler so i’m like you know what we’re just going to keep plugging away and that’s what i love about homeschooling too is that you just keep going and every summer every summer somebody asked me do you guys take a break or do you guys keep going and i always just say you know i’m a really relaxed homeschooler we take lots of breaks And we just keep going.
SPEAKER 03 :
So we just… Maybe that’s why, Marilyn, you don’t have any wrinkles because you get to take breaks. Unlike a public school teacher where we really are desperate for breaks. What would you say to parents who feel like they’re unqualified to be a homeschool teacher?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s a great question. Because that’s one thing that I learned early on with… I think it was a, it was an organization that did, that had a lot of studies that, that they profiled that really helped me. I just, cause I I’m, I’m a research person, you know, I want to see, you know, the empirical evidence. And so I really liked that where I, I found on there, this, this study that was done of, of homeschool parents versus, versus, you know, public school parents, what the general, whatever, whatever most people do. And it, It was really interesting. There was no statistical difference in the outcomes with homeschool families with whether you had a higher education, like a doctorate even, or didn’t graduate high school. And that was not the case for parents of public school kids. It really made a big difference if you had a doctorate or master’s or higher education or didn’t graduate from high school. And so one of the things they kind of extrapolated from that was it, it’s probably the model. It’s this, it’s the tutor model that makes a big difference instead of the education that made a big difference in the teacher. And so that really gave me confidence. I mean, along with obviously God saying that the fear of the Lord is being a wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. I’m going to believe that. But then also that gave me the confidence that, you know, if, parents who didn’t even graduate from high school, you know, did this and weren’t successful, then, you know, I know I can be. And then I, we do a lot of, I just love history. So we did a lot of history and we did a lot of just first-hand accounts because you know when you get past way beyond that you just people are changing things and so first-hand accounts and I realized oh my goodness there are a lot of people like even during slavery times that that taught their kids that didn’t know much or even Dr Ben Carson his mom’s mother was illiterate but because she she pushed him and made them read and made them do report cards at home Then one of them became a brain surgeon and one of them became a rocket scientist. So and she was illiterate. So that just really gave me the confidence. And to any parents out there, you can have the confidence that you could do this if you are trusting God, trusting the right things for the foundation of your homeschool. And also just that that it’s a superior model is the the tutor model.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s great data. I didn’t know that. And that’s encouraging to know. I’m sure to a lot of young parents who are out there who are saying, you know, I really don’t like what I’m seeing happening in the public education system, but I’m really intimidated to homeschool because I’m not a teacher. There are lots of supports out there, you know, for those who want to buy a curriculum that’s already there and you can go through it. You know, those do exist. For extracurricular activities, Marilyn, what would you advise for parents who say, well, I want my kid to be homeschooled, but I also want them to participate in sports and get some activity outside of the home? Or do you have any recommendations?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, there’s now there’s just so many opportunities before just listening to a lot of other veteran homeschoolers who started away before I did. There weren’t as many opportunities, but they started realizing that, OK, these these people are paying taxes and so they should be. also have access to even even um some of the government school teams and um you know sports and different things that they’re doing that you can you can enroll your kid and just and just that if you want to that’s that’s an option there’s so many options and um co-ops there are what we did was and you know you talk about you know all these different activities running kids here and there and here and there and i was like i’m not going to do that you know I have too many kids to be everyone in something different. So we just decided for our family, we’re going to pick one thing and we’re all going to do it. And I told the kids, I said, we’re going to pick one thing and we’re all, you’re all going to do it. And it was karate and they loved it. And, you know, they loved it. And it was, it was a really special form of karate, the original form from Okinawa. And their teacher was a believer who taught through the um, the rec center, the rec center. And so it also didn’t cost an arm and a leg, you know, we got, and after a while it was free because it was, um, through my, my Denver. So, so, um, if you could access, you know, these programs through, through the, through that, it was free. And so it was free for our family and the And they got really high. Unfortunately, their sensei passed away, but they were all, the top ones were all testing for their black belt when he passed away. So they were just really, and they loved it. And it was good because it was another form to get them disciplined and And then they became leaders in their class. I mean, I had other parents coming up to me all the time saying, oh my goodness, I’m so glad my kids are in this class with your kids because they’re such good role models and they really help them and they’re really kind to the children, even the younger children. I love that model, too, of this one room schoolhouse where you’re the older kids get to kind of mentor the younger kids and the younger kids just looking up to them like, oh, you know, they’re paying attention to me and they listen and and like learning from the older kids, too. That’s one thing I we kind of are missing, too, from that that you get to have in in the homeschool.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Marilyn, I’m looking at the time and we have to land our plane. And I love having, I feel a little selfish because I got some one-on-one time with you and you got a little break from the seven children. And we just had such a wonderful conversation and I’m looking forward to more conversations with you. To my listeners, thank you for tuning in and catch me next time. And remember, educating the mind without the heart is no education. So seek wisdom, cultivate virtue, and speak truth.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for tuning in to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. Visit PriscillaRahn.com to connect or learn how you can sponsor future episodes to keep this message of faith, freedom, and education on the air.
