Why Some Kids Need a Purpose

This week on Still Figuring It Out, Josh and Britt dive into an important question: Why do some kids thrive in school while others struggle to stay motivated?

Josh shares stories from his own childhood, including being the student who didn’t care much about grades, skipped class, and even got kicked out of a teacher’s classroom. Looking back, he reflects on how having a purpose and direction could have changed his path much earlier in life.

The conversation explores summer learning, helping kids retain knowledge during school breaks, the importance of accountability, and why parents play such a critical role in preparing their children for success. Josh also discusses his work with SouthernTech and the new OSSAA officials training program, highlighting how opportunities like CareerTech can help students find a purpose and a future they are excited about.

Whether you’re a parent, educator, coach, or someone who struggled to find motivation as a student, this episode offers honest conversations, personal stories, and practical insights about helping young people discover their “why.”

Because sometimes the difference between success and struggle isn’t ability. It’s having a purpose.

Follow Still Figuring It Out on Facebook and be sure to send us your best “Dad Fail of the Week” for a chance to be featured on a future episode!

We appreciate y’all listening. If you got something out of this, share it with someone who’s still figuring it out too. We’ll catch y’all next time.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

All right. Welcome back to another week of uh Still Figuring It Out. I'm Josh and this is Britt, and here we are in another week.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Yep. Made it another week. Hadn't kicked us off yet.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah, I know. They keep letting us upload everything. So I guess it's a positive. I mean, and we're lucky enough to still grow in our in our listeners every week. So that's a that's a plus.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Yeah, definitely enjoying that. Yeah, so so how was your week, man? Pretty good. Mostly just worked. Yeah. Um, my parents went off to Alaska, so we're gonna stay at the house, been there a few days and feed their animals and everything else. Pretty much business as usual. You know, still working, all that good stuff. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Good. Yeah, I mean, same. I mean, I uh you know, I did some work this week, just kind of took it easy. I'm I've got a I've got a great thing going work right now. So we're working actually partnering with um OSSAA um and and getting an official officials course going. So we're gonna, you know, train officials and have them have a class for officiating, that way, you know, they can get that professional development they need and, you know, hopefully just make it better as a whole, where we not only everybody's on the same page all the time where you see a call, there's not any conflict of, oh, well, this should have been the call or this should have been the call, but but also trying to recruit more officials, man. So whenever we went and met well met with them, they told me that there were 5,000 officials that take sports tests to be officials, and about 3,500 of them officiate. So, but he, you know, he's saying we need more, like, and he's be doubled. So, and so it's crazy to think that there's that many people out there officiating for one, because I did not think we had that many officials, and two, they need more. You know, like I've always thought, yeah, we need more officials, but they have a lot of officials, more than I thought they had. That's a bunch. And then what what sports does that so the sports we're we're gonna be doing at at Southern Tech that we're gonna be offering is it's gonna be football, basketball, slow pitch softball, fast pitch softball, baseball, wrestling, soccer, and that may be it, honestly. Maybe wrestling. Did I say wrestling? I don't know. But yeah, so so we're gonna start with those sports. At some point, we're probably gonna get once we make it a statewide deal with the other career techs, we're probably gonna make it added like lacrosse and flag football and volleyball, whatever areas they have at those certain schools, you know. But but yeah, I'm super excited about it. So if if you've if you're thinking about being an official, definitely reach out to me because it's gonna be a big deal. It's gonna be awesome. I mean, it's gonna be a one-stop shop. You're gonna come in, you're gonna learn about the sport. I mean, because obviously you already know about the sport and you enjoy it or you wouldn't want to do it, but you're gonna learn more about the sport, you're gonna learn about the test, you're gonna learn be taught how to take the test. And at the end of it, you're gonna take the test. Not only are you gonna take the test and you're gonna get certified in that sport, but you're gonna get a certificate saying that you took the course and that like I'm an official official, you know. So, and what we're gonna do, we're gonna, we're gonna make a big drive and and we're going to put everybody's name in that took that course. And we're gonna send it out to all the schools, you know, saying, hey, like this, these people have been, you know, certified. Like they've they've gone through the course, they've they've learned from other officials that know what they're doing. Like, we trust these guys to come and officiate your school because you know, there's schools out there that that blacklist referees and officials because they don't like how they call and they're not very good officials. So we're really, yeah. So we're trying to get away from that. And we're trying to, you know, say, hey, like we trust this guy enough to say, hey, hiring, you know. So so I think it's gonna be good for everybody. And like I said, you know, we're we're hoping in this process to get more officials, um, young officials. Because I mean, you know, if you graduate high school, if you're 18 or older, you can you can officiate sports. Now you can't do high school sports, but you can still do junior high. You know, you can still, I mean, you can still do kids stuff, like little league stuff like that. So like that's a great, that's a great job. Like, you know, whenever I was in school at Oklahoma State, I was a I was an official. I made great money officiating, you know. So like it was good, it was good money. I mean, I would I would officiate a Stillwater High School game and get paid $200 and something dollars for two games a night, you know, do that three or four times a week. I mean, yeah, you're making great money, you know. So I I definitely if if that's something that you want to do, maybe you're retired or or you work a day job and you enjoy sports, and I mean it's it's a great thing to get in, man. I mean, like I said, it's it's it's fun. It's good, it's good pay. I mean, you know, and I you maybe you need to look into officiating. It's it's it's a lot of fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

I mean, it could be. I it definitely would be. You gotta have a good eye. Yeah, no, yeah. So you gotta have good knowledge of the rules.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

And and you know, but like, so with that, like you said, I had a good eye, but like we are we in in that in that course, we're gonna go, it's gonna be a Monday, a Tuesday, a Thursday, and then all day Saturday. So it'll be a Monday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night, and then all day Saturday. So that way people like that you like work during the day, you go to work, and then when you're done, you go to that class from you know, from 4:30, 530, whatever to nine for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and then on Saturday, it'll be all day, but we're gonna go like to a softball field or a baseball field or a football field or a gym, like whatever sport it is you're doing, we're you're gonna go to that place, and you're gonna not only are you gonna learn about, you know, in-game stuff, but you're gonna be learning where to stand, you know. Okay, if if I'm on the first baseline, if I'm the field up, is my right foot on the foul line or is my left foot on the foul line? You know, like you're gonna learn that. If you're behind if there's a runner on second base, you know, that that field up moved behind behind the pitcher's mouth. Are they on the throwing side of the of the pitcher or are they on the back side of the pitcher? So, so I mean, you're gonna learn all those things, you know, and then also with basketball, you're gonna learn if it's a two-man crew or three-man crew, you're gonna learn how to rotate to where you're not running as much, where you're just kind of running half court and back and forth instead of having to run all the way up down the court all the time and get tired. So you're gonna learn these things in this course that really helps you be a better official or become a better official. And, you know, most importantly, man, we're we're trying to get young people and women. Like, we need young people and women. It's it's crazy. Whenever I was up there, I don't remember the exact number, but the amount of women they had officiating. Like they're just they just don't exist. Right. You know, so so like let's let's get them going and let's let's get this, you know, growing because again, there's great money involved if that if you especially if you do it full time, you know? Yeah. I mean, there's tons of people who do it full time, especially like my my buddy Paul, he's a he's a baseball official. Dude, he does he does games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and sometimes Saturday. But you know, he'll go do a baseball tournament on Thursday, Friday during the day and be done during the day, and he'll go somewhere else and and officiate at night. And dude, he might make a thousand dollars that day just officiating a few games. Like, so like it's crazy how much money you can make there, you know. So definitely, definitely want to get the word out and something we are super excited about, Southern Tech. So if that may be something you're interested in, holler at me, or if you know somebody interested, you know, tell them to holler at me because I'd be more than happy to to get it going for them. So but yeah, that's so that that's kind of what I've been working on.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Right. So yeah. So uh what do you think about uh covering for this week? For you're talking about basketball, right? No, for the for the podcast for what we're doing. Oh, foe, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I was like, wait a minute. I'm still in basketball mode, man. Oh, you're good. My back's against the wall, man. I'm over here swinging, you know, hoping for the best. But yeah, well some what about like, you know, it's summertime. We just kind of got into the summer, kind of got in the groove of summer, kids are out of school, you know, what what are we doing to help our kids or what are our kids doing to help themselves retain the knowledge they got?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

You know? Yeah, that that's a pretty good, pretty good idea. Cause I mean, you know, especially if if they're average in their class or even below average, you know, then after summer you're looking into going in the next grade, you know, you could potentially have them falling even farther behind. Yeah. So that that's kind of the situation we've been in where, you know, as soon as school's out, it was like, hey, you know, we're we're gonna work on, you know, I try to do an hour a day with her one way or another. You know, at her age at seven, can't really just do a straight hour. She's not gonna be able to focus and kind of break it down, you know, 15, 20 minutes of each subject. And for her specifically, you know, reading is good. Definitely gotta work on her reading, spelling, math. But then also us reading to her and her telling us what she heard. What she heard, you know, being able to, you know, comprehend what what she read. Retaining that information. Retaining that information, yeah. And and that goes, you know, what whether she's staying at her grandma's or here or there, you know, maybe not if she's at a camp or something, but you know, having my mom, you know, make sure she's kind of doing that as well, because you know, definitely want to be by the time she gets to fourth grade, you know, in August, definitely want to be ready for fourth grade at least. You know, if not more.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yeah. No, yeah. So, you know, when I was a kid, I my early years, well, even my high school years, you know, I didn't become a great student or a studious student until after the military, you know, when I realized I like I don't want to do that. Like, I want to go to school. I want to, I wanna, I want to do good because first time, man, I was, you know, it was bad. Like I didn't go to school, I didn't go to class, I didn't care. I I wanted to work, like, well, I thought I wanted to work, like, you know, and make money, but those jobs that I could only get one without a degree and stuff wasn't great jobs. You know, they didn't pay as much as I or if they do, it's you know, it's tough. It's old and everything. Yeah. And and so, you know, when I was younger, man, I would I wouldn't care about my grades. I had no, I had no desire. It didn't matter how much my mama spanked me or got on to me. I just didn't care, man. Like, it wasn't that I couldn't do the work. I mean, and it wasn't that I was I wasn't intelligent or I don't want to say stupid. I don't think any kids are stupid, but I I wasn't stupid, you know, so I just didn't care.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

You know, and it it's hard to see, it's hard to really see the reason for it when you're especially when you're really young and it's like, okay, um, I do this again next year and then I do it next year. It's yeah, you know, what's the point? And you people people talking to you about college and this and that, and you can't really you don't really see the the future. You don't have any knowledge of of that, so you you don't really well I had kids don't have any reason to to want to keep their grades up.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

You know, and it's it's funny because I had no desire to go to college. You know, now I have you know five degrees and everything else, but I but but then I had no desire to go to college. I I did not care about college. I didn't you know I I didn't care about any of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

So Up Up to when? Up to what point? When when did you start when did college become when I got out of the military?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Oh at that point. That was yeah, like that was it, you know, like like if and you're what 24, 25 at that point? I was 20, 23 years old. Okay. So I didn't I didn't care, you know, from well, let's see, yeah, I was 22, about to be 23. Got in at 18, I got out right before I turned 23. I got out in November when I was 22, and I turned 23 in January. So, but like I said, I I had like I had no desire to go to I had no desire to go to college. I didn't want to go to college. College wasn't for me. Man, if if I knew what I knew now, like when I was in school, because here's the thing, I still didn't want to go to school, but if I knew about the career tech and and those opportunities, dude, my life would be so different right now. I probably wouldn't one, I probably wouldn't have gone to the military because I would have, I would have had a career. I I would have been that guy in high school that went to a career tech. Right. And and you know, it's it's hard because right now we're not in a career tech school district. And, you know, and I'm on the school board and people ask me constantly, and I want, I, you know, and and we just have other ideas, you know, and but I I truly think every school should be in some sort of career tech district because the opportunity it gives is just incredible. You know, seeing these students that that don't do well in school because they don't have a purpose in school, they start doing better because I would have done a lot better in school if I had a reason to do good in school. I just didn't have a good, I didn't have a reason to do good in school, you know, when I was younger. I just, you know, my mom, she could have, she could have beat me until she was blue in the face and it wouldn't have changed my mind any anything. But if they told me, hey, if you if you want to go to VoTEC and learn something, like I would have wanted to do, but you got to make better grades at school, I I would have pushed myself to make better grades in school. Yeah. I I wasn't I wasn't pushed to make good grades in high school. And I not even to play sports. I didn't, I mean, as crazy as that sounds, as bad as that sounds, I'd I didn't have to worry about it. I didn't, I passed. I mean, I didn't get on, I didn't get on the eligible list. You know, I I wasn't ever ineligible. I mean, but I just didn't do my work. Now I look back, I'm like, why was why weren't I on the ineligible list? Like I should have been on the ineligible list, but I wasn't, you know. So it there's questions there. Um do I feel like I might have got, you know, I won't say not punished, but hosed? I might have got hosed because I feel like I wasn't pushed enough, you know, and there, and there were people like, you know, Kevin Benson. You remember Mr. Benson? Yeah. I couldn't stand that guy in school. But now today, that guy cared about me more than any any other teacher. Maybe more, maybe, you know, some of my favorite teachers, like, like Sarah Watts, you know, like she really cared, making me want me to do better and stuff like that. Michelle Bray, she was another one that really made me want to do better in school. But like Kevin Benson, dude, he kicked me out of his class my senior year. Like, I couldn't take his class. Oh, kicked you out of the whole class. Kicked me out of the class.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Like early in the year?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

I couldn't, yeah, I could not go to school in his class. Like I I had to, I I wasn't allowed back in his class. And I had to have that class to pass. So you know what I had to do? What? Like now, you know, there's like Epic and you know, online classes and stuff. I had to do a class through the mail. They sent me, they sent me a packet. It was a book, a history, a geography book or a history, whatever class he taught. And I had to do it through the mail. I had to write it to you. Some some distant learning place. I don't know. I don't remember. But but the school ordered it for me because they would not allow me to go to that class. He would not let me go in his buttons.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

So let me ask, did did you flip his desk around?

SPEAKER_01 16:07

That was that was like the little things.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Like I was I remember I remember someone flipped his desk around. He sat in and bumped his knees and bumped his knees. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah. I used to do all kinds of stuff too. Oh, yeah. I was just picking on I was a I was a bad student, man. Like I was not the greatest student. And it's it's funny because it's it's like a full circle moment because you know, now I'm in education. You know, like I taught at the same school that I went to school. Matter of fact, I taught in the same classroom. I taught history in the same classroom that Kevin Benson kicked me out of out of his class in.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

That's you know, so like it's it's crazy to think about because and looking at it now, it's like you think about having a student like you were. Yeah, you can kind of see his point of view where it's like 100%. I'll probably do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

But like I said, there isn't anybody more than I that I respect more than than him, you know, because he he truly wanted me to learn, you know, he truly wanted me to learn, he truly cared about me. And at the time I didn't see that. And and now where I am today, like I see how much he cared about his students, you know, and and Kevin Benton, if you're out there and you ever listen to this, I'm sorry. Please forgive me, you know. Like, I mean, I know I caused you a lot of sleepless nights and because you had to come to work the next day and put up with me. So I I appreciate you. I really do. But but yeah, like I said, so anyway, back to what we got we got on the rabbit hole. Oh, that's okay. We went way off in the outfield. Yeah. So so I I'd always go to summer school, man. I I'd I had to go to summer school if I wanted to move on to the next grade. Oh, yeah. Because I I'd have been, I'd have been held back three or four times, I'm sure. Because, you know, like my mom, she always worked, you know, two, sometimes three jobs to to make my life a lot better. And she'd go to work, so I would, she would go to work before I'd ever get up and go to school. She would be at work when I got home from school. So, like, you know, she was constantly working. And so it was easy for me to if I skipped, because back then they didn't call. You know, they sent the mail saying that you missed missed the day of school, or they sent mail saying, oh, your child's failing. Like it wasn't a text, an email, a phone call. And they didn't do that. And you could get to the mailbox. I'm the reason why they probably they probably called the parent now. Oh, you know, I'm probably the reason. But yeah, I would get to the mailbox and I would get, and you know, the school probably thought my mom was a horrible person because she never would have signed the papers and sent them back or something. You know, like so I can sorry mom for making you look bad. You know, like, but but yeah, so so like I said, I would I would just take the mail out and I would go find a lighter and burn it and get rid of it, or I would, you know, rip it up in little pieces and flush it down the toilet. You know, something stupid that I wasn't supposed to do, but I would do it because I didn't want to find out. So I had to go to summer school. So by the time summer school was over, I was finally kind of caught up to where I needed to be intelligent-wise to be able to go to the next grade, you know, because I wasn't during the school year because I didn't I didn't pay attention, you know. Like I had those teachers, um, Patty Dodd, she'd she'd let me know if I messed up. Like I, you know, I made sure I was good for her because she would, she would Miss Murphy, Miss Parrish, dude, like like those were my favorite teachers, man. Like those those elementary school teachers are my favorite teachers. And and you know, it's funny to this day, the closer I get to 40 and I and I see Miss Murphy and Miss Parrish, I still give them big hugs every time I see them, you know, because because they didn't have to care as much as they did. You know, they they really did care about me. And they were good teachers. And and I and it's funny because I still remember things that I did in that class with them, you know, like the dinosaur museum and stuff like that, like in Miss Parrish's first grade class, we did a little dinosaur museum and we made some sort of fossils and stuff when students would walk through the classroom and see what we did. You know, it was just I remember stuff like that from that long ago, but I don't remember my well, I talked to my wife about yesterday. So it's it's it's weird, but but no, so that's what I would do during when I was young. I I had to go to summer school. I went to summer school all through elementary school because I had to, because again, I didn't care. And then middle school, I got a little better. I I did my work some, but it wasn't like it should have been. You know, I still had a ton of zeros. Olivia, she always had homework that I could copy. Blake, she had homework I could copy. You know, it's like I would just copy their homework. I would I mean I wouldn't do it all the time, but I'd do it just enough to get by. I just got in trouble for talking and stuff like that in class. High school, dude. I had no accountability in high school. Other other than Benson and like Miss Bray, you know. Miss Ruff, she kind of kept me in line. Which math I was good at. So I didn't I didn't have a problem with math. So like everybody was like, oh boy, boy, boyd, you know. I sure I I didn't mind boyd, you know. I mean I mean I got in trouble in there for talking and stuff, but I never got in trouble not doing my work because it was it was fairly easy. Yeah. So I, you know, I was that, but like I said, I didn't have any accountability. I mean, I would come to school when I wanted to, I'd leave school when I wanted to. As long as I was there for the last hour for athletics, I mean, that's all I was worried about, you know? Yeah. But like I said, I do think if we was in a a career tech district, I would have gone that route. And I think my high school would have been a little different because I paid attention.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

So what what do you do you have any sort of plan with your kids? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

My kids is totally different. I mean luckily I have my wife who is pretty you know on on game. She's like we have like this summer we bought we bought Spanish flashcards. You know, we bought flashcards for the kids for this summer. Like we're gonna we, you know, we're showing the kids flashcards in Spanish and they're learning, you know, Spanish. Like because you know Infinity knows Spanish so it it's it's nice because she can help them. The only way I'm gonna learn Spanish is if I move to Spain and I like I just embrace the culture and I have no choice. I have to learn it. Like that's the only way I'm going to ever learn another language. Because if it's up to me, ain't happening. You know, so I I'm glad we have her like the kids but the kids love play to play school. Like dude they will get books and coloring books and you know which obviously their school's a little different than you know Riley's school or Gabby's school. Like they're actually learning stuff which my kids are learning. They're just at a much younger age that they're learning you know so but like Jersey he hadn't started pre-K yet but he starts this year. Like he's learning all this stuff that the girls are learning already because he plays with them. So I'm hoping he stays ahead because he's learning what they're learning.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Right. Yeah that's good sorry I had to get a drink. My throat was starting to itch.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

But yeah so like I said he he's learning with them so I'm hoping when he gets to school one thing they're gonna tell Jersey to do is sit down. You know, because he likes to get up and run around and everything else. But but yeah so that's kind of what we do we we we we play school a lot. I mean the kids want to teach each other all the time and they end up fighting because one wants to be the teacher and the other one wants to be the teacher so now we gotta have a student, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Yeah I guess you don't have any kids at that age where summer's really important to learn right now. Since what what is Riley going to be a senior?

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Riley's gonna be a junior this year. So but but no with with her Riley's issue is not school. Riley's issue is turning things in on time. Oh I remember you telling you so like dude her freshman year it was like pulling teeth you know she would have a D every once in a while or a low C and I would click on there and there'd be nine zeros. Well no wonder why you have a D or a low C because you have all these zeros you know so I went on vacation last year and Riley didn't get to go she didn't get to go because she didn't you know and that was our that was our rule. Steven had to miss a miss a vacation one time because he didn't have A's and B's like if you have a zero you're not going on vacation because there's no reason for it. And and I don't want to say I'm strict but I'm much harder on my kids in in school than I ever dreamed of having you know because I wish I had somebody that would have pushed me like I push my kids.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

And obviously the technology helps I mean 100% if your mom had been able to just click a button and see your grades it it might have been a different story.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

And it would have been but and I don't hold it against my mom at all because you know like I said we moved so many times because we we had to you know move to the cheaper house or I mean you know like I didn't get to go on vacations because we were off during the summertime because my mom worked all summer. Like my vacation was going to see my grandpa which I I've loved and I wouldn't trade. Yeah but I never got to go to Disney World I didn't never get to go to ski during Christmas break or I didn't get to go you know to Mexico during the summertime. I didn't have that so that's another reason why I love traveling so much because I didn't have that growing up and and I want to make sure my kids get to go everywhere. I mean crap we're going to Asia for 15 days this this year you know like yeah and I'm taking guess what I'm I'm on the school board I'm taking my kids and they're gonna miss school but I'm okay with it because how much education are they going to get going to Asia? You know how much learning are they going to get to see going to Asia going to Japan and Vietnam and Singapore and China and you know South Korea like they're gonna get learned so much more on that trip than they are they are going to be the week of fall fall break. Yeah I mean because you know I'll tell you as a school teacher at at a school district like they don't do much that week they don't like it's it's makeup week like let's try to close out that last that first nine weeks let's you know let's turn first two or three days that week. Yeah so you yeah you go you it's usually Monday Tuesday third Wednesday Thursday and then you're off Friday and then Monday. So I thought it was oh okay I see but yeah so it's like I said it's um it's it's that's how it is but but yeah so we're gonna we're gonna miss school and I and I mean I'm fine with it because like I said they don't do much that we nowadays they can jump on Google Classroom and still turn in Riley's gonna have to take the semester test because she's gonna miss too many days of school but that was something I talked to her about like are you good with that and she she was like and going to Asia yeah I'm all in you know like and and there was gonna be things that she would miss like she's not even gonna be a trainer a football trainer this year because I was like Riley if you're a football trainer you're not gonna be able to go on this trip because I'm not gonna allow you to miss a game because I try to make sure my kids understand if you sign up for something and you have a commitment yes I agree you can't cancel it because you have a new a new fun commitment. Right. That's your commitment you're there you know like just like a couple weeks ago manity's work talent search they went to Colorado Riley was going to go to Colorado and and I was fine with it and then I realized that she signed up to help help at VBS vacation Bible school and I was like eh no right like you know you you have a commitment you've already signed up and said you was going to help vacation Bible school you're gonna help vacation Bible school. Well she mad 100% she cried because her friends were going and she wasn't going you know so and and it's hard to see your kid cry you know and and be upset but if I allow her to constantly do that all the time I mean there's nothing ever be no loyalty. Right yeah you know like so you know I called Jared and Caitlin and we talked about it. Infinity and I agreed Jared and Caitlyn agreed it was like no if she signed up for this she needs to do it. So we were all on the same page you know that was kind of like our co-parenting deal we talked about a few weeks ago I mean luckily we can do that you know some parents be like no she if that's what she wants to do it's my week she's gonna do this you know so yeah so we all agreed and and we try to make sure we're all on the same page but but Riley like I said so this last year we didn't get to go on vacation well she didn't get to go because of her grades this year she had straight days she had straight days she killed it you know did great she might have had an 88 or an 89 to finish the semester but it was in math she she hates math she struggles in math she don't like math so I'm fine with it but I'll tell you the difference there were no zeros yeah you know that was the difference there were no zeros and her grades showed it you know like so so I'm and and she told me one day she was like dad you were right she was like it's so much easier if I just turn myself in I'm like isn't that crazy how that works because Steven was the same way he I mean he did the same thing his but he waited until his senior year he had senioritis really bad really bad and he just thought that he could do whatever he wanted to but it cost him a little bit of scholarship money and he realized oh crap that kind of sucks you know so that's something I don't feel like I get to hear much dad you're right yeah no yeah no that's yeah that's that is is a huge huge win you know and and Infinity she kind of keeps me in line with that too because I do at times get a little lenient you know and she's like no Josh like we said this we need to stick with this I'm like oh yeah and I don't want to say yeah you're right but she's right too you know so but but yeah so like I said that's kind of what we do and it's it's good. I mean you know it'll probably change a little bit as we go and as the girls in Jersey get a little older I mean Riley's kind of on her way out the door now with uh high school she's kind of starting to prepare looking for colleges and seeing what she wants to do with her life and where she wants to go and and I think you know this this upcoming year we're gonna make a few trips on campus visits and check out some things and you know because she has decided that I don't know where I want to go but I want to go you know and they're not not here she wants to yeah she wants to go like she infinity's finishing up her masters this this this year and then in the spring which in May she's gonna graduate so we're gonna we got to figure out when when Steven graduates and when infinity graduates because they're gonna graduate at the same time so we'll probably go watch Steven graduate and then we're gonna fly to DC fly into DC for a few days and then go watch infinity graduate in Lynchburg in at Liberty and and you know that's one of Riley's top schools like that's kind of where she wants to go. It's a huge Christian university they have great praise band that you know she might want to get involved with so she was like I really want to go because I want to take a campus tour see if I can get somebody to give me a campus tour while we're there so I can you know learn more about the school because that's where she you know is looking at but I don't know why but she is all about the Florida gators too University of Florida so she's Tallahassee no no that's uh Gainesville Gainesville you're right yeah Tallahassee Florida State State yeah yeah so she wants to go I'm like why like where in the world did you get the University of Florida you know but that's another one she wants to go look at so we'll we'll see I mean I think Riley will thrive at a larger university because there's more of her people you know she's she's a little social butterfly don't know where she got that from what so when she was younger did did you do anything in the summer to to keep keep her that's kind of what what I was kind of looking at. Yeah I mean not not really in school when she was younger school school she was okay it wasn't it wasn't an issue in in you know early years because and Stephen too Ste yeah Steven was smart Stephen was really smart in school yeah he dude he would always read these big old books you know he would read like Harry Potter and like The Lord of the Ring like stuff like that like he'd read the big books you know like Steven was a little a book nerd and I don't know what happened but he got out he grew out of that real quick but now you can't get him to read an article you know so but uh but yeah he used to read a lot but you know but before Steven moved in with us like he kind of had my childhood you know where his mom was always working and he didn't get to do a lot of things so reading was something that he could do where he could get away you know so he would he would do that but like I said he quit doing he quit reading but Steven was always a really smart kid he he was really smart and then he got into high school and it all changed but no but but yeah so like I said Riley she she would do a lot of things but Riley wanted to do anything where there were kids anything that it was social you know so she would always go do certain things and learn certain school things and go to like the summer reading book club things and stuff like that. So she was always wanting to do something and her noni would always take her to do all these certain things Karen she'd always do these things where it has something to do with stories or books or learning or something. So that's kind of where where we were with that but I mean other than that we didn't really do anything extra with her you know I mean I guess when she was younger I mean I played I played so much softball that I didn't pay attention to it you know we was constantly playing softball. Right so yeah like I said that was kind of what we did during the summer times and now it's kind of different you know I'm I've been looking at you know I wanna dude I want to move to Spain so bad you know so I've been uh looking at different things there because I want my kids to like grow up and and know have some sort of culture and language you know sure because I tell them infinity like how cool would it be for our kids already know English. I mean obviously there's a lot more English they need to know like proper English wise and stuff like that but they could pick that up around the house. Sure. But if they go to Spain they learn Spain going to school you know or Spain they learn Spain they learn Spanish going to school well over there you know once you get to a certain grade you start taking a foreign language. Well if they already know English and they know Spanish why not take another one you know and then start learning a third language. Like how cool would it be for your kids to know three languages? Right. I mean that's that's pretty cool. Yeah you know that'd be very very beneficial. I uh I want to do it not just for my for my sake and just of my my want to go and serve and help you know but for their sake to be able to go because you know that's something else we could talk about some other time is you know going and serving and you know doing mission work and stuff like that. But I want to do stuff like that and you know that we'll be talking about next next podcast next week or something.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Yeah that'd be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

So but yeah like I said it's that's kind of where we are we're right now in summer's just starting and we're just trying to have fun. Like the kids right now they're in Ada. They went to the splash pad in Ada like a little I think either splash pad or a splash pad oh I don't know they got a big swimming pool I think I don't know where they did but they're in Ada right now and they're they're living their best life going swimming. So they're doing that we you know we told them the sandbass was last week we didn't do the sandbass on Saturday because it poured down rain did you end up going to sandbass?

SPEAKER_00 37:42

No my wife and and Gabby were already out there I think she got to ride the Ferris wheel and do like the bumper cars. So she did get to do a couple things and then yeah that was it. Yeah but they left before I got there.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah so well my kids didn't even get it to go but I think towards the end of the summer we're gonna take them down at the Peppa Pig theme park. Have you seen that down there? Uh where's that at they got a it's in grapevine they got a Peppa pig theme park it's actually really cool man like your girl would probably love it. Like it's probably she she watched Peppa Pig they got like a little kids roller coaster they got you got like a little dinosaur like you like ride a little dinosaur thing like on a little track that goes real slow but it goes through some stuff. They got like um just little ride that goes up and down like where you can go high up and then down it's real slow but it's definitely something to look at this summer. So if any of y'all are looking something for kids man it's it's a lot of fun. It's it's I mean I enjoyed it because there's it's small so you're not walking all over a huge theme park. Yeah that's nice. But like they even have like a little AC room where they can like get on these little bikes and ride around these tracks and you're sitting in the AC cooling off. So I mean it's it's pretty cool man. So if if any of y'all oh and they have they have a big splash pad water park deal there. Yeah. So if anybody's looking at going doing something with a little one you know I would probably say fifth grade or down maybe maybe fourth grade or down like look into Peppa Pig theme park it's it's top notch. It really is it's it's a it's a perfect it's like a six flags for little kids.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

So it's well let me know when you're going we may have yeah no I mean it's uh it's it's a lot of fun I mean I don't know I don't know maybe we could sit up one day at Peppa Pig theme park and have a podcast while the kids play. Yeah so but yeah like I said it's it's a really cool deal and if nobody's ever checked it out definitely check it out because it's it's worth it it really is worth it. So but yeah like I said I don't I don't really have much more today I mean it's pretty pretty easy well dang it's already 40 minutes in but yeah didn't feel like that it felt like more like 15 not a lot of them do I guess I guess when we just ramble it kind of goes by pretty quick. But uh yeah you got any any last words or messages?

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Not anything else.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Oh I was gonna ask you on the the OSSA thing do you know what the cost is yeah so so right now uh we're still looking at cost but it's probably gonna be roughly 45 to 50 dollars.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Oh that's not bad.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Well so so here's the thing is and it might be a little bit more than that but not much. So so with the career tech man we we're not we're not in to make money you know we're uh education system so so really all you're all you're paying for is the books that you're already gonna have to pay for and get and and the the test okay like that's all you're paying for you're not you're not paying all this money to you know have to learn these certain things I mean it's it's gonna be cheap like it like I said it may be more than 40 or 50 bucks I mean we haven't really sat down and looked at the cost but I mean you know it'll average in with the the instructor's pay and stuff like that but like it's it's cheap like it's it's cheap yeah that's that's it ain't gonna be like $400 or $300 that's what I was putting yeah it's not gonna be anything like that like if I was to see that that was going on it'd probably be a $300, $400 course because, you know, but with being education and stuff like that, dude, you're paying exactly what we have in it and that's it. Nothing more nothing less like you're paying that and that's all that's all you're paying. Yeah. Wow so it's it's it's a really good deal man I'm I'm really excited about it. I'm mainly excited about it because I had something to do with it. You know we're looking at you know taking this thing statewide and it's pretty cool I can say like yeah I I was part of I was part of that I'm the one that did it. I mean I'm the one that set set the meetings up I'm the one that went and talked to the guy I'm the one you know so like it's pretty cool you know knowing that we've we've got something going like that and I think we're super excited to be doing it and seeing where it goes.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

So yeah that sounds fun. But nah I don't have anything else other than that.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Yeah I real fast before we're done you know I would like to you know we talked a couple weeks ago about you know trying to start like a dad fill of the week oh yeah so if there are any dads out there that you know just messes up and don't take out the trash and miss the trash man or forgot your kid at school or practice or left your crayons in the washer. Yeah left your crayons in the dryer guilty as charged dude reach out to us and let us know you can either reach out to our personal Facebook pages if you know us personally shoot us a text message or follow us on um on Facebook and still figuring it out you know like and shoot us a message on there because we want to we want to talk about you know a dad fill of the week and and maybe just have a little segment of of some dad fails you know of what you know and it's it's always fun because we've all done it you know and and I'm I'm sure you're not alone but you know it's always fun to get a good laugh out of somebody you know like my my crayon incident you know I run only run about a thousand dollars of clothes but what it is whatever you know so so but yeah so just shoot us a message and you know and if you're not following us on Facebook you know like share follow all that good stuff that they say yeah so man I'm Josh this is my co host Britt and we're just still two guys trying to figure it out