Conservapedia:Andy Schlafly on Eagle Forum Live/allsegments

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Trus me Conservapedia

Introduction

Newcomer's Guide What is going on?

Commentary

Best of Conservapedia Blatant plagiarism Differences with Wikipedia Hijacked articles "SDG" "TZB" "Fab Five" Sysops Timeline CP in the media

In-depth analysis

Active users Illustrated guide

Fun

Article Matrix Greatest Insights Parthian Shots v - t - e

This is the whole show, without ads for Phyllis' book, mostly.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 1

Andy and Phyllis rap about Conservapedia, part one.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics.

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The internet is a wonderful source of information, but how reliable and dependable are all that... eh, all those sources of information you find online. Many, I'm sorry to say are unreliable, but there is a website called Conservapedia, that is well researched and documented. We have the founder of the website, Andy Schlafly, with us today. He's a conservative lawyer, he graduated from Princeton as an engineer, and then he got his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude and is an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Andy teaches one of the largest homeschool classes in the country, on subjects varying from world history to government to economics.

Phyllis you don't even need the script to read those credentials, do ya?

No, That's right.

Andy Schlafly, welcome.

Oh thank you, it's a real pleasure to be on the show again.

From Trenton, New Jersey.

Well, er, what about this new term that's come into our vocabulary, Conservapedia?

I started Conservapedia with my students, about two years ago, as an alternative to Wikipedia, which...

Why do we need an alternative? Doesn't everybody go into Wikipedia?

Well, Wikipedia unfortunately has an anti-Christian, anti-conservative bias to it, and it's not a suitable learning resource for students or adults. Sometimes there are pornographic images in there. There's lots of gossip in there, it's stuffed with trivia, and it's just not a good learning tool, in our opinion. And so we started our own, Conservapedia, and since then we have over 76 million page views and we've been developing entries about American history, world history, current events, and so on. We have over 25 thousand entries of the most important topics that a student would want and that's almost the size of a standard encyclopedia or dictionary, and we welcome the listeners out there to participate in this project. Now I've been using it to teach homeschoolers. My American History class has 66 students, in person, and...

Oh! That's a, that's a pretty good sized class for a homeschooling, I thought homeschooling was just 2 or 3 members of your family.

Well, homeschooling is growing by leaps and bounds, and it's, my American History class may be the largest in the country. But it's been very exciting to use [beep] -dia, to run this class, and what we've been doing is I post the lectures and I post the homework assignments on Conservapedia and the students have been posting their answers to the homework there and then I grade their homework right online, so all the parents and anyone else can watch as the course progresses. And what I've found is that when students write out the material, themselves, they learn it much better compare to when they merely read material when...

Oh! There is no question about that. As a writer, I know that, I, I, I really don't feel comfortable about a subject 'til I've written something about it.

And so the learning has been much enhanced by this, we've covered a full year in just 14 weeks, and it's not because the students are working harder, it's because we're working more efficiently. And by doing it online, the parents can watch what's going on, they can see how their students are doing compared to other students in the class, the students are retaining the material much better, and the feedback is much more effective because the students can submit their homework and then I can grade it within a matter of hours. They don't have to wait a week or two weeks or sometimes in a public school course you don't get feedback on your homework till the end of the course. Well I am giving them feedback almost immediately on what they do and of course they're writing it such that everyone can see it and that has a powerful effect too, its like reciting in front of the class. When you recite in front of the class, in front of other people, you try much harder so it's a real incentive to the students to do better.

Well, there're all kind of surveys now that show really how dumb students are the Intercollegiate Society through studies has conducted a lot of them and students and adults are very ignorant about American history. Are your homeschoolers smarter than that?

Yes they are. They, they really understand American history better than just about anyone now. You can see by the exams I put up. And anyone out there, any listening audience can look at the exams I put up on Conservapedia and test how well you do yourself. And I've got students who achieve nearly perfect scores on these very difficult exams.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 2

File:Andy on the radio 20090103-02.ogg

Andy and Phyllis rap about Conservapedia, part two.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics.

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We're talking today with Andy Schlafly, who's a lawyer and an engineer and conducts a large homeschooling class. Where did you get, where did you get your students?

By word of mouth, it's... I've been teaching since 2002 and it's grown steadily since then, as I said we're up to 66 students and I believe it's the largest American history class in the world for teenagers. It's bigger than any public school...

Oh, well the whole trend is you have to have small classes in the public schools, I think even Florida passed a constitutional amendment that you've got to keep classes very small.

Well that's a mistake too, that's because the liberal teacher unions want to be able to hire more teachers and have a more powerful union. The bigger class provides better competition, provides more social opportunities, it's more enjoyable for the students to have a bigger class.

Oh! Competition? That's a bad word in the public schools today, isn't it?

Certainly is, but competition's essential to motivate students, and it's also essential to teach the material without liberal bias. A liberal bias is very confusing, and it's what causes students to become depressed and lose their motivation, but when you teach American history and other topics without the liberal bias, the students get excited about it, it's straightforward, it makes sense. It teaches about the American dream about what kind of potential they have themselves to do well in society.

Well the, er, story, the story of American history is really so exciting. It's so exciting, as one, as one of the classic books says, when the, when the pilgrims came to this continent they tilled the ground the same way people did in Biblical days and then in just a short space of a few decades, we have this tremendous expansion and increase in standard of living that has just stunned the whole world.

At the end of our class I asked our students whom they thought was the most influential American in all of history and they voted first for Thomas Edison, because of all his productivity...

Good choice!

And then the second choice was Ronald Reagan, and then the third choice was George Washington. So this is the kind of optimistic, upbeat attitudes that you get from students when you teach the material without the liberal bias, and I will say that above all, all of my students are very happy teenagers. I can almost tell the difference between a homeschooler and a public school student just by how happy they are.

Oh! That's wonderful! Well, they're not given all of these depressing assignments and what we call "oppression studies".

That's exactly right, and then of course what that depression leads to, it leads to addiction, leads to drugs, leads to a lot of bad things. But if you keep the students happy, then they stay way from all those pitfalls and problems that teenagers and adults can get into.

Well, we want to hear from some homeschoolers, but we've got just about a minute left in this segment, I want you to tell what Conservapedia is.

Conservapedia is a free, on-line resource on the internet, anyone can go there right now. Spelt C, O, N, S, E, R, V, A, P, E, D, I, A, dot com, it's a combination of "conservative" and "encyclopedia", those two words, dot com, and you can go there right now. And you can look up any term. You can look up Barack Obama, which, our entry has had over 900,000 pageviews on that. You can look up Phyllis Schlafly. You can look up anyone. And by the way, mother, many of my students said you were the most influential American between 1945 and 1980.

Well, I hope I've led a lot of people to know what's wrong with the feminist movement. And one of the - you were talking about your homeschoolers being happy - one of the main things that mattered with the feminist movement is the attitude they teach women - the attitude that they are discriminated against and oppressed. And it's just so unfortunate when you wake up in the morning with a chip on your shoulder and you think that you can't accomplish anything. I guess you're teaching your students that they can conquer the world after they get out of your classes, right?

Absolutely. And I've taught them how successful and productive many homeschoolers have been in American history; most people don't realize Thomas Edison was homeschooled, Abraham Lincoln was homeschooled, Douglas MacArthur...

Andy Schlafly, visiting with us today here on Eagle Forum Live. Andy, you need to beef up that entry on Phyllis Schlafly. I saw it the other day, it's very thin! We need more content on there! And a lot of people can join in and add some content. If you'd like to call and talk right now, talk with Phyllis and Andy, the telephone number is 1-800-736-3202, 800-736-3202.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 3

Andy and Phyllis finish up their little chat.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics.

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Coast to coast you're listening to Eagle Forum Live with well-known conservative commentator Phyllis Schlalfly. If you'd like to join in the conversation the telephone number is 1-800-736-3202. Now once again here's Phyllis.

And our guest today is Andy Schlafly, who is an attorney and an engineer. But we're not talking about those subjects today. We're talking about his great hobby, which is teaching homeschoolers. And he has started this "thing" on the internet, I don't know what to call it: Conservapedia.com. And we've got some calls lining up for you Andy, but first of all tell us how does information get on Conservapedia? Is it one of these things that anybody can post?

Yes, anyone can go to it. You can go it right now if you like. Simply establish a user ID and a password. Nothing else is required, there's no charge, there's no name and address information. You can go right in and you can start editing. And the edits then pop up and we can all view them on the screen. And this an activity for adults too. It's a great learning tool for students but it's fantastic for adults. I get a new insight from Conservapedia nearly every day and it's a way to engage in mental exercise. We're all told how important physical exercise is, well mental exercise is important too. And all the adults out there should go there and learn. Learn the things that you didn't learn in school. Learn what was wrong about what you learned in school. And get, gather the new insights that will help you combat the anxieties and depression that you may face.

And what are some examples of subject areas where Conservapedia would be really different from Wikipedia?

Well anything relating to politics, or Christianity, or history, or economics - really, it's amazing how bias creeps into almost any area. The Bible, and so on...

You mean of Wikipedia?

Of Wikipedia - and any other resource. Any printed material. Any textbook. Bias is just all around us, and Conservapedia is a way to eliminate that bias and tell the truth about what's going on out there today and in the past.

Hey Andy, as we go along if you can spell Conservapedia a few times before it's all said and done here...

Oh Bruce, our listeners are very smart. It's just a combination of "conservative" and "encyclopedia".

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 4

Caller: Don Dean, Conservapedia administrator.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics. Caller in green.

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Let's see what Don, er, let's see what Dean has in mind here from Spokane, Washington, KUDY.

Hello Dean, welcome to the program.

Well thank you, Phyllis. Andy, I've spoken to you in person before. I'm one of your administrators on the site. And I'm the one that puts a lot of the news content on the main page. This morning I added a new article called "Girls Need a Dad and Boys Need a Mom" and another one on "Is Religion Necessary?" I got those from American Thinker, which is one of my popular sites that I use. I contribute quite regularly to Conservapedia and I do agree with Andy that it's a very good resource on the internet and I'm happy to contribute to it.

Well thank you so much Dean. You've been a valuable administrator. We have about a dozen or so top flight conservative administrators and Dean is one of 'em.

What do you do, Andy, if someone tries to post something that's really obnoxious?

We revert it almost immediately. And if it's an example of somebody who cannot be rehabilitated, who has just got a very bad attitude or [is] vandalizing the site, we block them, immediately. And I must say that's a bit of mental exercise that is an empowering feeling to escort people out and kick them off the site.

[Phyllis cackles]

What?!

Even for teenagers. It's a valuable experience for them to see that there are bad guys out there and that teenagers have blocking powers and they can exclude people too. And that's valuable for them to learn that there are deceitful people out there that need to be blocked and excluded.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 5

Caller: Lois, liberal hater.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

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Hello Lois, Welcome.

Thank you. Andy, I heard you speak at Phyllis's Eagle Council in September in DC, and you mentioned that now the liberals are beginning to see the success of the homeschool movement and are entering homeschooling and that the support groups now need to begin to figure out some kind of, just like you're talking about the Conservapedia, the liberals logging on, how do people effectively keep those who also have an anti-Christian anti-conservative bias out of their support groups?

That's a superb question, Lois, and you're exactly right that the liberals are infiltrating the homeschooling movement. And I think it's a matter of staying true to certain principles, certain Christian principles and not allowing them to be diluted or changed by others who are coming in from the outside. We're not trying to be the most popular movement in the world. We need to stay true to our principles and I've suggested perhaps a one page constitution that homeschool groups could use around the country that make it clear that they're going to adhere to certain conservative principles and not allow homeschooling to become like public schooling.

Well I suppose there are liberals who want their kids to be smart and they realize they're not learning much in public school so they've gone to homeschooling, but they can have their groups. What you mean is you don't want them infiltrating the conservative groups. And can you make this sort of statement of rules or constitution available to us so we can have it available at Eagle Forum for anybody who asks us?

Yes we can, and I'll do that. And just to give you one example one of the rules we have is that the class will begin with a Christian prayer. Everyone else is welcome, we don't impose any religion test. If you want to be an atheist or any other religion that's fine. But the class is going to start with a Christian prayer.

Well. Well, that's certainly different from the public schools.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 6

Caller: Tyler, a student of Andy's.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

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Oh hi Tyler. Welcome to the program.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Schlafly. Hi Mr. Schlafly, this is Tyler, as you know. I just wanted to say that your classes have been a huge benefit to my education. I started going to Mr. Schlafly's classes when I was in ninth grade, just beginning my homeschool career. I had gone to public school from kindergarten 'til eighth grade since that point, and it was just a great learning environment that I found myself in. Mr. Schlafly's classes are a great place not only just for teaching, but also as a social setting, the homeschoolers. And also I learned different skills such as the Conservapedia, which we started in my junior year, and also he has us do debates which helped us with our public speaking skills as well, so I felt I gained many benefits from being in Mr. Schlafly's classes.

Oh that's great. Have you posted anything on Conservapedia?

I have. I have posted a couple articles in my junior year and senior year. I'm now a freshman in college, so not as much, as I have less time.

Oh you got into college as a homeschooler?

Yes. I'm at Liberty University and I have a full scholarship, actually.

Oh! And after you... how many of Andy Schlafly's classes did you take?

I believe four, so. ...

And after you took them did you take these tests that kids take before they go to college like SATs and so forth?

Yes. I did take the History II CLEP exam and I passed that with flying colors.

You passed it after you took Andy's class?

Yes.

Well, OK!

And the CLEP exam is a college level exam. That's an exam that enables the students to earn college credit. And we've had a tremendous success rate on that exam based on my high school courses, so that is an illustration of how useful these courses could be. And Tyler, I greatly appreciate your comments and you were a superb student and you've got a very bright future in college and beyond.

Oh that's great. Thanks a lot for your call.

Thanks very much.

Andy tell us a little more about some of the subject areas you have on Conservapedia, and, suppose I'm doing research on various current events. I would go to it just like I would go to Wikipedia and put in a search word and then something would come up, is that the way it works?

That's exactly right, and that's why everyone is shifting over from printed encyclopedias and dictionaries to the internet because it's so easy. You simply type in a term and the answers come right up on the screen. You don't have to get up and go to a different room. You don't have to page through an index. It's just a matter of typing it in, clicking it and you're right there. And then you can go to the next screen and it's a tremendous research tool. A lot of people are using it for the Bible. The internet's become a great resource for the Bible, and for people to see the translations, to see the original Greek and Hebrew, and we've got a number of entries on Conservapedia that discuss the Bible and I've learned a great deal about the Bible from Conservapedia.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 7

Caller: Lisa (public school teacher).

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

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Hello Lisa, welcome to the program.

Hi. I just had a question about, um, I mean, I'm sure there's a cost involved with, um, you know taking the homeschool classes on line and stuff like that? Can you give me more information about that?

No, there really isn't. I do charge a small amount for the in-person classes but I'm welcoming people online, and I don't charge anything online. So, I encourage all listeners out there to try out the classes through Conservapedia, and there's no charge for that, at all. So you can go to Conservapedia, you can look at the left side, there's a link there called Educational Index, and if you click on that link as I just did, you'll see all the classes, and you can just dive right in, and I'll notice you, and I'll start responding to you without any charge.

Is there anything for younger kids? Like elementary kids?

N... It's mostly at the high school level. Now I encourage parents not to hold their kids back, I've had some very successful students who were only 12 years old, for example. These courses, history, writing, economics, American government, these are courses that younger students can pick up, quite well, and so I encourage you don't hold your, your students back, I'm not sure which age your talking about for elementary school but, but someone as young as 8, 9, 10 years old can learn American history almost as well as a high school student can.

Um, and then is there like a network or anything as far as, I mean cause this sounds really neat what you're doing, I'm actually a public school teacher, but I wouldn't mind even doing something even like that on the side, for, you know, for younger kids or it would be nice if there were, cause I'm talking like 6-years old, 9-years old, I think like, as you said, they can always use all the extra help they can get.

I think you're right and just go ahead, go on the site, you and any other listeners, and I'll notice you, and then we can begin communicating, and I welcome expansion to reach the younger students, I welcome public school clubs.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 8

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text.

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Andy, we have some calls lining up, but let me ask you one question: when I homeschooled you and your brothers and sisters, just the first grade, teaching you how to read at home, and then entered you all in the second grade, I didn’t know one other living person who taught their kids at home. What’s happened to the homeschool movement since then?

The movement has expanded by leaps and bounds, and particularly in the last year or two I’ve seen a great exodus from the public schools into homeschooling. It’s now obvious that the public schools are a tool for the left to indoctrinate, and confuse, and mislead, and destroy our children, and I urge every parent out there to consider options other than public school, and homeschooling is a terrific option to restore the happiness and the positive outlook and the productivity to your child.

And there are all kinds of resources available to homeschool teachers now?

There are, there are tremendous resources, free resources, there are great support groups, there are homeschool communities, there are parties here where I am, we’ve got hundreds of families that homeschool, we’ve gotten to know each other, and it’s a good diverse group too. My daughter noticed that actually homeschooling is more diverse than what you’re likely to find in the public schools; you get a lot of people who’ve traveled to foreign countries, you get people who do missionary work, you get a lot of experts in different areas, it’s a tremendous community and I urge everyone to consider taking advantage of.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 9

Caller: Andrew.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

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Hello Andrew, welcome to the program.

Hey Phyllis, hey Andy, thanks for taking my call. I don't need to tell either one of you that the public schools have gotten progressively worse over the years, and they're likely to get much worse with the new administration coming to Washington. And so I predict that there are going to be a lot of parents who are going to want to increasingly get their kids out of public schools and explore homeschool options. Probably many of these parents don't know where to begin, so if you had to offer some advice to the steps that need to be taken to homeschooler children just in a very quick bullet point format, what would they be and do parents have to register homeschool children with the local public schools?

Andrew, that varies from state to state. New Jersey is one of about 9 states where there are no requirements at all. You don't have to register, you don't have to tell anyone, you just simply pull your child out of public school, get connected with one of the homeschooling groups that you can find on the internet. You can just search your state and find out what the homeschooling groups are and call them up. You'll see there's a church or a community center where they get together and you start to meet them and then you learn of the courses that are available by word of mouth and so on. In some other states you do have to register. Pennsylvania, where homeschooling is also very popular, there is a pretty intensive regulatory scheme where you have to keep track of the hours that you're instructing your child and so on. So it depends on the state.

And in some states don't they allow homeschoolers to participate in public school athletics?

That's right. That was the deal that they made in Pennsylvania, where the homeschool families agreed to more regulation, and in exchange they got the right to participate in the public school sports programs.

Is that a good deal?

No. No. We're against that deal in New Jersey. That's being offered to us in New Jersey and we say no, we don't want that. We don't want the regulation. Really, it's a mixed bag competing in the public school sports because then you're back in the culture. You're back with the same issues of drugs and profanity and hostility to Christianity and so on. We'd rather develop our own sports teams, and we're doing that. We have our own basketball team. We have our own baseball team, and so on.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 10

Caller: Billy.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Caller in green.

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Hello Billy. Welcome.

Welcome to you guys!

Ok!

I have a very important question, OK? And Phyllis, you talked about this more than once. I listen to you on the radio, the first time I ever called you. This past year my church got me to start reading the word of God through for the whole year, and now I'm starting on the second year of going through it again. But when I went to school doing the studies that I'm doing now, we were not taught phonics, at all. And I am finding out that now, in trying to get into the Greek and Hebrew, since I don't have any phonics sounds...

You say, Billy, you said you were not taught phonics? Is that what you said?

Yes sir. And I was wondering if he had anything for a 53, almost 54 year old male that could learn the phonics sounds so that I could make my life a little easier in the process of doing more of my Biblical studies.

Well, I would suggest, Billy, that you get my book Turbo Reader. It's designed for students, but the English language is the English language. And if you, you could go through it rather quickly and learn the phonetic sounds because the English language is about 85% phonetic. And there are a lot of big words in the Bible. And the trouble with kids who are not taught phonics is once they get past one syllable words, they're just lost.

Well, that's what I'm getting into, even with some of the names and the things that we have in our own scriptures, I have, it's just like a battle to be able to pronounce them and it just, it gets aggravating at times.

Well, I would suggest you get my Turbo Reader. You can go on our internet, on our website, eagleforum.org or you can go on turboreader.com.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 11

Caller: Dan.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

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Hello Dan. Welcome to the program.

Hellooo, Phyllis. This is Dan. How are you today?

OK.

I used to be a liberal and now I'm a conservative...

Oh, wonderful!

...and I've always listened to you, and I just really enjoy working with you but right now I'm a substitute teacher, in public school, and I've been doing it for over 10 years, and I'm having problems getting into private schools. So my question was - Is homeschooling an alternative to public and private and magnet schools?

And the answer is yes...

OK.

...homeschooling is different...

Ah hah

...from any type...

And another thing is I wanted to pass by you, because it's something you could add on or maybe talk to another website about, is the intelligent design or creationism, that, that whenever I sub for biology a lot of the kids are very concerned that we don't teach that.

Well that's right...

It's quite interesting

...it's disputed on the public schools...

Ah hah, so if we could have some of the public schoolers at least be able to homeschool that part too. 'Cos I had one book I that looked at called "Creationism", er it was a creationism book, and it had all the scientists that were Christians and it just blew me away. Faraday, all of them.

That's right.

You know, back in those days everybody had to have a doctorate of divinity as well as their [giggles] other Ph.D.s. So, they feel there's a lot of that, but students themselves see, that a lot of that is not being taught.

Well that's exactly right, and we have all that on Conservapedia.com...

Greeeaaaat.

...all that information's there and public school students can go there and see what they're not getting in public schools. What's been banned and prohibited from the public schools. So that's all available on Conservapedia.com. And that illustrates an advantage of homeschooling...

well, I think...

...we don't have that type of censorship of ideas you have in public school.

Ya, I found a DVD from Discovery.org, I think. That's the big Intelligent Design thing and it's just fantastic. A lot of secular people that I have even had some [indecipherable] about, switched over to Christianity.

Well I'd like to point out that there are a lot of good Christian teachers in the public schools, like Dan. But the teachers do not pick the textbooks or decide the curriculum and a lot of them are very much hamstrung by what is chosen by others.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 12

Caller: Marcy Mary.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics. Caller in green.

---

Welcome, Marcy.

Hi. Hi, this is Mary.

Oh, hi Mary.

I just have a comment. I am a former teacher, and I am a Christian, and I believe homeschooling is a wonderful idea. However, I’ve run into two examples in my own family where children have been - quote unquote - "homeschooled", because they didn’t want to send them to school. So there’s a gap here somewhere, that we need to address in that some people are really not capable of homeschooling their own children.

Andy, what’s your answer to that?

Yeah, I think most people are capable of teaching their children how to read and how to do basic arithmetic and how to do basic writing and those are the fundamental tools, that we all need to learn and a lot of people are not learning that in public school. As you get more advanced, then what parents can do is they can fall back on the homeschooling community and the online resources like what I describe as Conservapedia.com. There’s no parental involvement needed there, all you need to do is give the student a computer, the student can read the lectures and do the homework and get the feedback from the teacher - myself - and the parent does not have to teach the child American history and economics and -

[Andy was cut off by the announcer setting up a commercial break, see approx. 12:50 in the original]

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 13

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Announcer in italics.

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Our last caller, Mary, was asking about parents who really aren't capable of homeschooling their children and I will tell you, when I started to teach reading to my 5-year olds, I had two degrees but I didn't think I was capable. And then I found that it's really a snap if you've got the right tool, and my Turbo Reader. would be the right tool so you that can do it. And then as you move along with the years, and you teach them their multiplication tables, and how to add and subtract, and things they are not learning in school, you can go on Conservapedia, and you can take some of Andy Schlafly's courses, about American history and government, and then in your support group locally there will be people who will, will teach some of the math and science courses and some of the high school courses that are so important.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 14

Caller: Joe.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Caller in green.

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Hello Joe, welcome to the program.

Good afternoon, how are you today?

Good... [Sounds suspiciously like "Gay"!]

Did you homeschool your son?

Just the first grade, and then I -

Did that make him gay, or was he already gay before that?

(Laughter) I think I have wonderful children. Thank you for your call.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 15

Caller via announcer: Gary.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics.

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And Andy Schlafly, Gary in Seattle wants to know what was the most intimidating or difficult part of teaching your first subject.

You mean reading?

Yeah.

Er... w-well... ah...

Ah, that was for Andy.

Oh, that's for Andy?

Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Okay... Andy?

I would say that the first subject I taught was the US Constitution, and it was a little challenging at first to get into the style of teaching and I learned a great deal from it and that's one thing that's worth keeping in mind is that the teacher benefits too. And there may be some teachers out there in the audience who would benefit from teaching and offering courses in their home-school community. It's been said that if you really want to learn the material to something, teach it. And there is tremendous value in writing and teaching that is beneficial to the person who's doing the writing and if you go onto Conservapedia, you can teach to a big audience there; you can write entries there that have many viewers and you can derive benefit yourself by learning and teaching the material to others.

And what are your courses, Andy?

I focus on five courses now: American History, World History, Writing, Economics and American Government. Those are the five core courses that I cycle through, which I think are the most important courses for teenagers and I think that by focussing those five courses, we prepare our students well for their college years, and beyond.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 16

Caller: Vesta.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics. Caller in green.

---

Hello Vesta! Welcome.

Yes, is that conservative "pedia" or is that conservative "media"?

Oh, guess you'd better spell it Andy.

CONSERVAPEDIA, like encyclopedia. C, O, N, S, E, R, V as in Victor, A, P as in Paul, E, D as in dog, I, A, dot, com. Conservative and encyclopedia, those two words put together, dot com.

Very good. Thank you very much. I appreciate [Andy almost interrupts] - I like hearing your program

Thank you for your call Vesta.

{{Conservapedia:Andy Schlafly on Eagle Forum Live/segment 17}

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 18

Caller: Chris.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Caller in green.

---

Hello Chris, welcome.

Hi, how are y'all doing today?

Okay.

Hey, I just wanted to make a quick comment. This is our second year homeschooling my daughter and our first homeschooling my son, and one of the comments that Andy made about teachers learning... um. My daughter wanted to learn about the Civil War, so I said, "Ok, I'll help teach you about the Civil War. I learned as much about the Civil war, I think, in trying to teach her, than she did. [laughter]

It was a great experience. I mean, I know a lot about the Civil War, at least, so I thought... but... we really gained... um... you know, we talk about it all the time and things, because that's... you know... the Civil War is such a seminal change in our history. And I look and tell her things, look at how things are now... that started because of the Civil War.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I found it amazing when I was talking to some friends of ours that I was teaching my daughter the Civil War, and they're African-American, and I had mentioned that my daughter was a little dismayed when I said when we were going to start teaching the Civil war and we're going to start learning about the causes and that one of the causes was the Three-Fifths Compromise, and they didn't have any idea what I was talking about.

Well, that's right. A lot of people just don't know any American history.

That's right. And of course, the Three-Fifths Compromise is in the US Constitution, but that is so true about learning the material when you teach yourself and there are times when I'm having a stressful day, I get on Conservapedia and I start to learn and write about history, or any other topic and it's such a, a calming experience. It's so rewarding and satisfying and all the adults out there should consider being more of a teacher and more of a learner, because it is such a relaxing and rewarding experience.

And there are some good courses also on Eagle Forum University, which would be good for any adults.

That's right, we have a lot of courses there, as well.

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

Segment 19

Caller: Paula.

Transcription: Phyllis in normal text. Andy in bold text. Announcer in italics. Caller in green.

---

Hi Paula. Welcome.

H-hi. Um...I'm really pleased you've got this Conservapedia dot com. However, I've noticed that when you look up a subject like on Google search dot com [sic], it always goes to the Wikipedia and then I get the definition of that. And how could it be that as far as multi-media, you know that you could be placed on the Google search more up... [laugh from Phyllis in background] ... I don't know... it maybe...

That's right. We're doing some research, Andy, and Wikipedia comes up on Google; how can we make Conservapedia come up?

Well we do rank highly for a lot of terms now. A lot of very important terms we rank in the top 10, or top 20. I think our Abortion entry is in the top 20 for example, and so our rank is improving.

But you're exactly right - there seems to be a bias where Google appears to rank Wikipedia the number 1, and we have to overcome that bias and recognise that the people who control Google, the people who control Wikipedia, the people who control the ordinary media are not going to be that friendly, to our Christian values. So it's something we have to recognise and we have to overcome that. It's important for teenagers to learn that too that there is tremendous bias out there and I make sure teenagers recognise that in my class - that there is deceit and bias and you have to overcome that, you can't just go along with it.

Well... er... Paula and others can help by going to Conservapedia, because... er... the more people who go to it, the higher the ranking on Google will be, right?

That's - and the more links - that's right. Yeah, the more visits and the more links created, so if you have another site then you'll want to link to Conservapedia and Conservapedia will link to your site and that's how we'll get our rankings better.

And how many good content pages do you have on Conservapedia?

We have well over 25,000 - I haven't checked the most recent number, but it's growing; it's growing quickly and we have the 25,000 most important entries. We don't have a lot of the trivia that clogs Wikipedia. We go for just the more important entries.

And what about how many people have already come to... er... Conservapedia?

Well, we've had over 75 million pageviews on Conservapedia.

Well that's tremendous. Now can people listening to this program post things about subjects they're particularly interested in?

Yes, they can. You can go there right now, it's free. You simply establish a user ID and a password for yourself, so you have a free account and then you can immediately post new entries and you can teach what you know about the Civil War, for example, we had a caller about that a few minutes ago. Or whatever is your area of expertise, you can put that up there and you can have a huge audience that will then listen and learn from you.

We've been talking today with Andy Schlafly, who's a very successful homeschooler, has some wonderful courses that are available on what he invented, which is the website called... er... Conservapedia dot org, I think...

It's dot com. Coast-to-coast, you're listening to Eagle Forum Live.