More Surveys of Home School Families

The Millers – Kade and Katharine (Melissa, Michael, Michelle)

In Deuteronomy 6:7 it says, “You shall teach them [the statutes and judgments] diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” It is from this verse that the Millers derive their conviction that they should home school their children. They home school because they believe that teaching their children involves addressing the heart issues, not just academics, and they do not believe that places and people outside of the home will address these heart issues in the way God has commanded them.

The follow-through of this conviction has been a challenge for Katharine, as she was not born in the United States, nor does she speak English as her first language. Kade is the bilingual son of Brazilian missionaries, and Katharine arrived in the USA as a new wife and mother, speaking only Portuguese. As her oldest (Melissa, now age 11 and in 6th grade) reached kindergarten age, Katharine herself was acclimating to American culture and learning English. So, for kindergarten, Melissa attended a Christian school. In first grade, Katharine began home schooling Melissa using Saxon math and the Rod and Staff curriculum for language arts. The following year, she, along with a friend, used My Father’s World for Melissa’s schooling, while Michael (now 9 years old and in 4th grade) attended kindergarten at a Christian school.

The next year, with Melissa entering 3rd grade and Michael entering 1st grade, Katharine switched to A Beka. This was especially helpful for her as the program included teaching DVDs. Because Katharine did not feel confident enough to teach her children in English, she was thankful that the children could still learn what they needed to, with the added benefit that she was able to learn along with them.

Now, all of the Miller kids use A Beka, but with Michelle (2nd grade), Katharine now feels confident enough to do much of the schooling without the aid of the DVDs. Though Michael still needs a lot of guidance and encouragement, Melissa works independently. Katharine is able to spend most of her time as a “consultant,” helping when needed, administering tests, and encouraging the kids to stay on task. Melissa is registered with A Beka, but for Michael and Michelle, the Nichols file their own PSA.

The Millers follow a schedule for their school days. School starts about 9:00am with Bible. Following that, the children do math, reading, and language. They receive a 15 minute break while Katharine fixes lunch. After they eat lunch, they do spelling, history and science. History and science are daily subjects, but the Millers have gotten behind on them, so Katharine will use this summer to catch up in those two areas. Other than that, Katharine follows a traditional school year schedule.

On a good day, five days a week, when everyone is on task and has a good attitude, Michelle is done by about 1:00pm, Melissa is done about 1:00-1:30pm, and Michael is done about 2:30-3:00pm. However, being that sin abounds in all people, it is not unheard of for certain children to still be working on their schoolwork at 6:00pm.

Overall, Katharine is happy with the A Beka curriculum. It has been a blessing to her, especially because of her family’s specific needs. She highly recommends it for any other mom who speaks English as a second language. Katharine says that the downside of this curriculum is that it is a lot of seat-work, which is harder for some children.

Summary:

Name of Program: A Beka
Pace: State Standard
Impetus: Textbook/Traditional/Subject Driven
Application: John Dewey/Traditional/American
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: State Standard/Textbook
Worldview: Protestant
Environment: Traditional/DVD
http://www.abeka.org/


The Davis Family – Don and Daniella (David, Daniel, and Darla)

When Daniella came to the USA from Mexico with her husband, she heard about this thing called, “home schooling.” She had never encountered the idea, and she thought how fun and exciting it would be to be the teacher of her own children! So, when she and Don were talking about school for David, their oldest, she thought it would be a great idea, especially because they lived in L.A. Unified School district, which they did not feel would be a good learning environment, and they did not have the money to send their children to private school. It wasn’t until their later years of parenting that they considered the benefits of home schooling in regards to protecting their children from bad influences and shepherding their children’s hearts.

When David (now 16 years old and in 11th grade) was ready for kindergarten Daniella felt it would be too hard to deal with home schooling as well as her toddler and new baby, so she sent David to a public school. Looking back she realizes that she could have easily home schooled him, but then she did not have the current 11 years of home school experience under her belt to know that . However, when David entered 1st grade, Daniella enrolled him in Options for Youth, a public charter school. Daniella was especially concerned that she would not be able to teach reading to David and her other children, as English is her second language. At Options for Youth, she chose from their various curricula and was generally satisfied with the choices. However, when David got to 4th grade she realized that she didn’t like the secular views being taught in history. So, when David entered 5th grade, she switched to A Beka and started filing her own PSA.

Through all the elementary grades Daniella has used A Beka with each of her children, reusing the curriculum in order to maximize her resources. In order to do this, she had each child use a separate sheet of paper and not write in the books so as not to use the consumables. Daniella uses A Beka math, language arts, history/geography, and science/health. They skip the art, as the Davises are very involved in music.

All the Davis kids have taken piano and other music lessons throughout all of their elementary school years. They practice every day and,starting at age ten, all the children have taught piano lessons. Also, the Davises have attended Lake Avenue Church’s Saturday Conservatory (http://www.saturdayconservatory.com/), where they have learned to play instruments such as guitar, drums, clarinet, and violin.

When David reached 9th grade, the Davises enrolled him in CAVA (California Virtual Academies, which administers the K12 curriculum). Daniella liked CAVA, but she and Don felt that David needed more one on one feedback from experienced teachers to excel in his academics. So, this school year David is enrolled in 11th grade at a high school in another city. Because Don teaches P.E. for that school district, this option is open to the Davises even though they do not live in that public school district.

Similarly, the Davises made the decision to send Daniel, now in 8th grade, to a local private, Christian school. Due to Daniel’s personality and character development, they felt it was in his best interests to be in a classroom with many other children. At home, Daniel was struggling with motivation and diligence. Daniel has found that the material in school is easier, but now he has homework and projects to manage.

Darla, age 11 and in 6th grade, continues to be home schooled using the A Beka curriculum. Her schedule changes based on each day’s events, but generally school starts at 7:30am and wraps up around 3:00-4:00pm. In the evenings Don does spelling with Darla, and Darla may have homework or need to study for a test. In other years school has started later, around 9:00am, but Daniella has found that starting earlier makes the day go more smoothly.

Over the years Daniella has learned and grown both personally and as a home schooling mom. Primarily, she has learned that nothing – no curriculum or schedule – works all the time.

If she had to do it over again, she would do many things differently. When David entered CAVA and the public high school, she found out that A Beka is behind in math in comparison to the California state standards, so he will be unable to enroll in the upper level math classes due to time restraints. In addition, David received no credit for all of his years of music because his teachers were non-credentialed. So, in order to meet the high school graduation requirements, David now has to take the required fine arts classes and P.E. classes that should have been done in 9th and 10th grade. If she had known this, she would have enrolled him in junior college classes so that he would have had these requirements met or made sure he did those classes through CAVA. Another option would have been to enroll him in classes at a private school that allows a home schooled child to take individual classes, at reduced rates.

Summary:

Name of Program: A Beka
Pace: State Standard
Impetus: Textbook/Traditional/Subject Driven
Application: John Dewey/Traditional/American
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: State Standard/Textbook
Worldview: Protestant
Environment: Traditional/DVD
http://www.abeka.org/


Name of Program: Options for Youth
Pace: State Standard
Impetus: Textbook/Traditional/Subject Driven
Application: John Dewey/Traditional/American
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: State Standard/Textbook
Worldview: Secular
Environment: Traditional
http://www.ofy.org/


Name of program: K12 (CAVA)
Pace: State Standard Driven, Spiral Curriculum with individual mastery components
Impetus: Textbook with some Literature and Thematic components
Application: John Dewey
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: Cultural Literacy and State Standards
Worldview: Secular
Environment: Traditional and Computer, Tutoring in high school years
http://k12.com/ , http://www.k12.com/cava/


The Woods – Will and Wilma (Willow, Wallace, Winifred, and Walker)

Wilma began her home schooling journey 12 years ago, through circumstance. When she and Will married, they simultaneously adopted Willow (now 16 and in 11th grade). Willow was really struggling in school and the school district’s efforts were not working. Wilma thought that home schooling would be the best option to help Willow, and Will heartily agreed. The Woods registered through Fairhaven (http://www.fairhavenca.com/aboutus.jsp) who keeps their records for them. Within six months, Wilma was sold on home schooling due to the incredible progress that Willow had made.

With that beginning Wilma and Will have continued home schooling, enjoying the freedom to meet each child’s individual needs – spiritually, emotionally, and academically. Wilma has found it fascinating to see each of her children learn in different ways, be inspired by different subjects and projects, and follow their passions. Mostly, it is a joy for her to see each of her children learning to love the Lord and growing in their desires to serve the Lord through their unique talents and interests.

Home schooling at the Wood’s house has evolved over the years. Wilma has learned that the way she home schools does not have to look like the way anyone else home schools and after years of struggling with “doing it wrong,” she knows that what she wants for her family is a natural, family-oriented home school, not a situation that mimics what happens in the public school. As much as she likes the idea of a curriculum that works for all of her children, maintains a schedule, and allows her to meet all of her household duties, she realizes that no such thing exists.

At the beginning, Wilma had never considered home schooling, so she jumped into it using a hand-me-down A Beka program. It was not a good fit for Willow. Wilma also used it a bit with Wallace, at first liking it, but then finding it wasn’t quite right for them. Wilma found that the DVD curriculum promoted a “sit and watch” attitude and the children were not motivated to participate, even with Wilma sitting next to them and trying to prompt them.

Since then she has been very eclectic in her approach as each child is so vastly different in his or her learning styles and interests. She used Rod and Staff for Willow’s math in the early years (Willow uses a different algebra book now) and Wallace uses it to prove he has mastered certain math concepts. Winifred (age 7) uses My Father’s World. Wallace enjoys reading books about history, so many of his writing assignments launch from that point. Will is working more with Willow, giving her reading and writing assignments. Willow is very interested in the pro-life movement, so many of her writing and research assignments center around this issue. Willow is also working part time, which has allowed her to do some real-life learning in saving, budgeting and general money management. The Woods use many resources from the local library as well as articles off of the Internet to spark interest and supplement research. Wilma and Will enjoy challenging their children to read sources that do not present a Christian worldview so that they can talk about the beliefs and philosophies of the world.

A typical home school day at the Wood household starts at about 7:00am with eating breakfast while listening to a daily Bible reading and praying together. Dialogue is encouraged, so it is not unusual for this to take an hour. After Bible time, they do about 45 minutes of P.E., alternating cardio (jumping jacks) with strength training. Wilma has found that this really helps minimize the wiggles as they head into the academic portion of their day. They then all spend about 20 minutes on AWANA. Walker (age 3) then goes to play in his room, while Willow and Wallace (age 9 and in 4th grade) work on math and do their English and history work. Meanwhile, Wilma does the My Father’s World subjects with Winifred. School continues until 12:30pm when they eat lunch. At 2:30pm Walker naps and the rest of the family does science experiments or art together and finishes any remaining school work. At this time Wilma is also available for more one-on-one time if any kids need help in a particular area. When finished with their school, the children must do their daily and weekly chores, do a room-to-room pick- up and then, weather permitting, they get to play outdoors.

On Mondays, Will is off work, so their schedule is a bit different. School starts at 8:00am, and in addition to the regular subjects, Will often takes one of the kids out for one-on-one time with dad, or the whole family does a project together. Will is also teaching Latin to Willow and Wallace this year, as well as Shakespeare, so the Woods are enjoying watching the dramatic antics of Will, Willow, and Wallace. Another addition this year is working on their new house and garden, as well as preparing meals together to take to various families at Calvary. Wilma has found this to be a fun blessing to actively teach the kids how to give out of their abundance and to find joy in serving others.

Wilma has tried schooling year round as well as following a traditional school year. She has found that schooling year round promotes burn-out, for everyone involved, so she limits formal schooling to a traditional school-year schedule. This is flexible, however, as evidenced this past year, where moving threw a wrench in the routine and they started school in October.

Summary:

Name of Program: My Father’s World
Pace: State Standard/Spiral Based
Impetus: Unit Studies & Textbook/Traditional/Subject Driven
Application: John Dewey/Traditional/American & Charlotte Mason
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: State Standard/Textbook, Classical, Biblical Principle
Worldview: Protestant
Environment: Traditional
http://www.mfwbooks.com/


Name of Program: Rod and Staff
Pace: State Standard/Spiral Based
Impetus: Textbook/Traditional/Subject Driven
Application: John Dewey/Traditional/American
Necessary Pool of Knowledge: State Standard/Textbook/Biblical Principle
Worldview: Protestant
Environment: Traditional
http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/