From Public to Private to Homeschool: My Journey Through Every Education Option [Crystal's Origin Story]

Speaker: 00:00:05

Welcome to the Homeschool Money Podcast.

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This is Crystal Obie, and

today's episode is unlike any

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other we've ever done before.

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You know me as a coach who helps

homeschool families break free

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from financial struggle and create

abundance while giving their

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children an extraordinary education.

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But here's what you might not know.

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I wasn't always the person sitting

on this side of the microphone

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confidently guiding others through

their biggest life decisions.

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There was a time when I was drowning

in my own chaos, navigating a childhood

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that didn't look like anyone else's

struggling through school experiences

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that left me questioning everything I'd

been told about education and wrestling

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with cultural expectations that felt

completely at odds with my deepest values.

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I faced moments where everything I

thought I knew about success learning

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and what makes a good life got

turned completely upside down today.

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I'm getting up close and

personal for the first time.

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I'm sharing the raw, unfiltered story of

my crazy childhood, my eye-opening school

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experiences, and the cultural pressures

that shaped and nearly broke my early

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understanding of success in education.

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You're going to hear about the pivotal

moments that made me question everything.

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The experiences that taught me

traditional paths don't work

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for everyone, and the surprising

discoveries that led me to homeschooling

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long before I became a parent.

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This isn't just my story, it's the

foundation for understanding why I give

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the advice I do, and more importantly,

it might just hold the key to your own

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breakthrough because sometimes the path

forward becomes crystal clear when you

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see how someone else navigated the same

crossroads you're facing right now.

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So grab your coffee, settle in,

and let me share with you the

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story I've never told before.

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The one that explains everything.

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Intro: A fast growing number

of parents are starting their

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homeschooling journey while others

have been homeschooling for years.

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All of these parents are asking one big

question, how can I afford to homeschool?

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We are here to answer that

important question once and for all.

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Hi, I'm Crystal Obby.

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And I'm Anthony Obby.

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We've been homeschooling

our five kids for 13 years.

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And we funded it through our online

consulting business that we've

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been running for over 17 years now.

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We're combining Crystal's financial

coaching expertise with my digital

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marketing background where I help

entrepreneurs launch and sell online.

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We're here to help fellow homeschooling

parents self-fund their homeschool

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journey and create lifestyle businesses.

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For financial freedom

without enough to five jobs.

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Are you ready to start living life

on your own terms and make your

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homeschooling experience a lot more fun?

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Well then sit back, crank up

the volume, and enjoy this

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episode of Homeschool Money.

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There are five major themes that

influence my decision to become a mom who

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homeschools and runs a business from home.

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And I wanna share each one with you

because chances are you've experienced

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at least one of these yourself.

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Theme one.

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This is the divorce of my parents.

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I was born in Evansville, Indiana,

and by the time I was 10 years

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old, my parents were divorced.

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Suddenly I was being raised

by a single mother and what

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everyone called a broken home.

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Those labels, single parent

household, broken family, they made

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me feel like I didn't have a choice

in how my life would turn out.

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Like my fate was already sealed,

but here's what I learned early on.

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In every situation, a choice can be made.

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That changes everything.

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Yes, my parents divorced, but

that decision actually saved

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both my mom's life and mine.

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My father was abusive and my mom had

finally found the courage to leave, but

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then she discovered she was pregnant

with me and like many young women hoping

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for the best, she thought that maybe

having the daughter he always said he

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wanted would heal their relationship.

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She had gotten married to try to be

a good Christian woman in a committed

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relationship rather than dating around.

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I was proud of her for that.

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Her dreams of a beautiful family were

completely shattered, and she was faced

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with an impossible choice, escape,

or potentially die at the hands of a

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controlling, jealous, violent husband.

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I won't go into the horrific details, but

I want you to know that I am incredibly

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proud of my mom for saving our lives

and facing that disappointment head on.

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But now, as a single parent

with no support from my dad,

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she needed to provide for us.

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She was able to get a good job at

ge, which was fantastic financially,

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but it meant putting me in daycare.

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My grandmother refused to let that happen,

so she stepped up to help take care of me.

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Here's the thing about blessings.

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They can solve one problem

while creating another.

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The blessing of getting that job in

income meant I would rarely see my

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mom since she had to work swing shifts

and overtime, she even had to stop

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nursing me just so she could go to work.

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So at a very young age, I learned that you

can have the best hopes and intentions.

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But if the other party doesn't keep

their commitment, you can be left making

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decisions that make you look and feel

bad while making life infinitely harder.

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So please have grace for other

parents, and if you see someone

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struggling, see if you can help instead

of gossiping or casting judgment.

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Theme two, the hospitality of my

grandparents, my mother's parents

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basically raised me and my brother,

like we were their own children.

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Giving my mom the opportunity to work

while knowing we were truly cared for as

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she navigated life as a single parent.

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I absolutely loved being with

my grandmommy and granddaddy.

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We lived out in the country on the

west side, just a mile away from my

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elementary school and two miles away

from my church in the other direction.

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I lived on acres of land that had been

passed down through multiple generations,

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and I felt safe, secure, and calm.

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My grandparents never yelled.

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My granddaddy could build

or fix literally anything.

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My grandmother played piano for church

and ran her own dress, sew and shop.

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So all of my clothes were

beautiful and handmade.

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Every morning I had breakfast

with my multivitamin, cod,

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liver oil, and B pollen.

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We had dinner around the

table at five o'clock sharp.

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My granddaddy said that was good,

Bobby, after every single meal, and

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I love to see my grandmother smile.

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I was in bed by eight 30 every night

and had perfect attendance at school

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and never missed a Sunday of church.

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I,

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they were absolutely amazing at this

parenting thing, and I was so grateful.

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One time they heard that my

cousin's friend at school was

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having a hard time at home.

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They let him and his nine siblings

come stay with us for a few days.

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That was 10 kids, plus the six of us

who were already living in the house.

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I asked my grandma, I mean, why they were

there, and she simply said she was given

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their mom a chance to catch her breath and

get some food built up in the cupboards.

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You have to understand this was a

: 1200

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like we were overflowing with food.

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She also took those kids to this huge

new store that had just come to town

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with thousands of items and bought

them shoes and other necessities.

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You may have guessed it, that was

the year Walmart came to Evansville

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Because of their love and care.

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I didn't experience wounds

I could have without them.

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I used to always say I couldn't wait to

be a grandmother because of the loving,

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joyful experience I had with mine.

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One day my kids told me

I didn't have to wait.

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When I described the kind of

grandmother I wanted to be, they

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said I already treated them that way.

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One day my kids told me

I didn't have to wait.

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When I described the kind of

grandmother I wanted to be, they

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said I already treat them that way.

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I learned that intentional love can

make a negative situation beautiful,

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and that's exactly why I go above

and beyond to care for my family.

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Theme three, the cultural

messages from society.

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The media constantly talked about

fatherlessness and all the negative

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statistics that went along with that,

but I learned in Sunday school that God

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is my father and he is always with me.

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So when I would cry myself to sleep at

night after my mom left for work, I would

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sneak into the laundry basket and pull

out her shirt so I could sleep with her

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perfume scent, still lingering on it.

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My mom loves perfume and she has a

great nose for picking out great scents.

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I would imagine my dad taking me to

the zoo and I would comfort myself

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with scriptures about how God would

be a father to the fatherless.

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My heart was able to receive love

from my granddaddy and not turn

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bitter about my circumstances.

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That's how I was able to avoid many of

the negative consequences that supposedly

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come from not having a father around.

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But I always noticed that the

world was built for a mom, a

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dad, and at least two kids.

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I saw Claire Huxtable looking happy and

successful on the Cosby Show with five

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kids, a career, a husband, who had a

great career as well, and somehow she

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still had friends and outside interests.

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I realized that the biggest joys

in my life came from being with

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family, so I set it in my heart at

a young age that I wanted five kids.

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I felt like three was the minimum, four

was too even, and five was perfect.

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Just overwhelming enough

to keep me on my toes.

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Theme four, the transition

from public to private school.

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I went to elementary school while living

with my grandparents, but when middle

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school came around, my mom had remarried.

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I was so excited because this was my

chance to finally have a normal family.

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I'd be able to say things like, my

dad did this, or My parents did that.

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But school districts were based

on zip codes, which meant I

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had to leave my beloved school

and go to the one across town.

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I loved my school, so we kept

my records with my grandmother,

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and I just made sure my teachers

didn't know where I actually lived.

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The funny thing is sometimes I rode

the bus home to my real house because

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there were kids being bused across town

to my school for diversity reasons.

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I was constantly told in middle school

that the key to success was education,

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and education meant college, but I

had no path and no money for college.

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Even though I was a star student,

I had no idea how I was gonna

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make it to be a successful adult.

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After some hurtful experiences at

school in the eighth grade, I knew

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I needed to make a drastic change to

get on the path to college based on my

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environment, I knew I would likely not

make it to the life I wanted if I stayed.

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There was a program called 21st

Century Scholars that allowed kids

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who qualified with the income and the

grades to attend any college in Indiana.

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During the year of qualification,

I had too much income because of

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my stepdad's job, but since they

ultimately divorced right after the

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cutoff, the program was closed to me.

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That was my best chance of going to

college, and it was gone just like that.

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I asked myself, who's the most

likely person I know to go

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to college and be successful?

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That was my cousin.

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She was the perfect role model.

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The kind of person where if you

didn't get along with her, it was

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probably something wrong with you.

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She had a normal family and a loving

brother, and two awesome parents.

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She went to a private school

called Evansville Day School

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and was doing really well.

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I saw they advertised that 99%

of their students go to college.

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I saw that they advertised that 99.9%

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of their students got into the

college of their choice, and

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most of the colleges were top Ivy

League colleges around the nation.

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I figured they wouldn't

want to fail with me.

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So I asked my mom if I could go and she

was willing to see if it could work.

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I saw they advertised that 99% of

their students got into the college of

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their choice, including the Ivy League.

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I figured they wouldn't want to fail with

me, so I asked my mom if I could go and

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she was willing to see if it could work.

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My mom has always been

supportive of my goals.

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At that time, the only way to attend

EDS was to either have money to pay

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for it and it was expensive, or test

in and earn a merit scholarship.

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The headmaster interviewed me

and said I could take the test.

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Well, I got in, the first thing I

did was go to the library and look at

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past yearbooks to see what successful

kids who went to college actually did.

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I got a notepad and wrote down all

the activities the kids and the

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award pictures participated in.

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That's how I built the confidence

to leave everyone I knew at my old

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school and be the new girl with kids

who'd been together since preschool.

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I was obviously there on scholarship

while other students came from some of

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the most successful families in the city.

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And as usual, since preschool,

I was the only African American.

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I had experienced wonderful teachers

in public elementary school than in

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different teachers in public middle

school, but my private school teachers

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were on a completely different level.

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They loved teaching their subjects

and they connected with us students.

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Learning was cool and succeeding

was expected and celebrated.

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I used to get made fun of in my

neighborhood for bringing books home.

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Now my friends were cheering

me on for getting good grades.

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This was amazing.

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I experienced firsthand how much

difference an environment change

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could make, and my teachers made

it possible for me to participate

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in Hands-on Learning, which I love.

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At public middle school, we had to move.

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When Bells rang, we had to get permission

slips to use the restroom, and we were

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rushed around all day and it seemed like

there were tons of rules with no one

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really caring about me as an individual.

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At private school, we

could hold classes outside.

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We had real discussions.

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We could leave campus for lunch, and we

had an AB schedule with block scheduling,

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which helped us get deeper into subjects.

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I even had a college advisor who walked

with me all the way through senior

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year to make sure I went to the college

that I wanted and got it paid for her.

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I realized that kids in the same

city could be having completely

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different educational experiences.

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I also realized that while

private school is amazing, there

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are more expenses than tuition.

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There was no cafeteria, so I had to buy

catered lunch or bring food from home.

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There was a dress code,

so I needed new clothes.

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There was no music program.

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Only tutors who charged by the

hour and parents were responsible

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for transportation because

there was only a private bus.

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While it was an amazing opportunity,

it also created a situation where I

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now had the pressure of needing to

perform at a top level academically and

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in activities, while also holding two

jobs just to be able to participate.

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This stress caused me to

faint at work from exhaustion.

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In another instance, I had to

spend a week in the hospital from a

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medical condition caused by stress.

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I learned that I do appreciate

a great education, and finding a

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way to make it easily affordable

can make a huge difference in the

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day-to-day experience of a student.

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Theme five, the reading assignment

After the Columbine shooting, all

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upper school students were required

to read Time Magazine every week at

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Evansville Day School in 1999, the

year I was graduating, the devastating

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Columbine shooting happened.

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This sparked tons of articles

in the media about education.

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One article I read had a line that said

some parents choose to homeschool so

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they can give their children a custom

education, spend quality time together

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and have a hands-on approach to help

them prepare for practical adult lives.

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I had never heard of homeschooling

before, but when I read that

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line, I knew it was for me.

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I committed to it at that moment.

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Because my school encouraged

taking initiative and back that

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encouragement up with resources.

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I felt empowered to do something about

Columbine as student body president.

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I created a fundraiser to raise

money to send to teens at Columbine

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High School as a way to show them

that we were thinking of them.

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My classmates did an amazing job

and it was another perfect example

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of how project-based learning made

me feel more connected to the world

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and empowered to make a difference.

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So just to recap the five experiences

that profoundly influenced my

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decision to be a work from home

homeschooling Mother of five are.

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The divorce of my parents, the hospitality

of my grandparents, the cultural messages

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from society, the transition from public

to private school, and the reading

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assignment after the Columbine shooting,

and just to tie up a few loose ends.

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Yes, my school delivered on their promise.

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I had my choice of colleges and ended

up choosing Agnes Scott in Atlanta with

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a full ride leadership scholarship.

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As yearbook editor, I suggested we

create a special senior book with

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a survey asking each student where

they predicted they'd be at 30.

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My answer, I said that at 30 I

would be married, running my own

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business from home, having five

ids and homeschooling them in: 1999

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I didn't know one woman

that had that lifestyle.

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: 00:22:05

It was literally a dream in my

heart and the complete opposite of

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: 00:22:09

what all my friends had planned.

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: 00:22:11

The homeschool money program is

the God I wish I'd had back then.

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: 00:22:15

I hope you tune into the next episode to

hear Anthony's story, and after that, the

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: 00:22:19

episode where we share our story together

of how we made this dream come true.

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: 00:22:24

A dream that's so amazingly

possible for you today too.

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: 00:22:28

Thank you for listening, and please

reach out to me if anything I share

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: 00:22:32

resonates with you, because if my

story sounds familiar, if you felt that

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: 00:22:37

pulled towards something different,

something more intentional for your

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: 00:22:40

family, then you're exactly who

we created this program to serve.

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: 00:22:44

So take the next step and sign up for

our free introductory class called

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: 00:22:48

Get $30,000 a Year to Fund Your

Homeschool Without a nine to five job.

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: 00:22:54

See you next time.