At Home in the Classroom

December 7, 2017 by Kelly Misch

Homeschooling is often chosen due to philosophical or religious reasons, or as a better fit for the family unit as a whole.

Some homeschooling parents even describe their journey as a personal calling.

Alicia Taylor, 35, is a Chardon Township resident who is in her third year of homeschooling her two elementary school-aged daughters, Maya and Sienna — a journey that began after Taylor’s oldest was enrolled in E-school for two years.

“I felt God leading me to take a look at possibly homeschooling and I knew some homeschoolers already,” Taylor said. “So I did some legwork and met with them to look at their curriculums and find out what they do.”

Susan Calzada, 41, is a Chardon Township resident who homeschools all three of her elementary school- aged sons, Joshua, Aaron and Jonathan.

“My kids all went to alternate-day kindergarten in Chardon,” said Calzada. “I really liked it, but it was the idea that the next year, they were going to be gone all the time. I felt like we wouldn’t have enough family time, time to read the books I wanted to read together or time to go places we like to go together.”

Jen Gorton, 45, a Chardon resident, is a veteran homeschool mom to her five children ranging in age from 13 to 23. Gorton homeschools her children until they graduate at age 18.

Both Jen and her husband, Adrian, were students in traditional classroom settings as children, but they have found homeschooling to be a natural way of life for their own family unit.

“Now my mom loved sending me off on the bus,” said Gorton with a laugh. “And I survived perfectly fine. We have a great family relationship. Homeschooling is not a matter of I love my children more than another person loves their children. It is a calling and something that just works best for our family.”

A Day in the Life of a Homeschool Family

Homeschool parents are required to provide 900 hours of instructional time per school year.

While adhering to guidelines, they become self-appointed architects of their children’s school days and determine the teaching method and curriculum that works best for each of their children.

“Our school days vary,” said Taylor. “Sometimes we spread it out during the day depending on what else we have going on. Morning is when they’re ready to sit down and work. In the spring, we will go outside or in the winter, we spend time at the library to get a break from the home classroom.”

Calzada describes a rhythm of flexibility in her homeschool environment as well.

“A lot of times we’ll do a couple of activities together for an hour – like reading together or a couple of other activities,” said Calzada. “Then I might send one to work on math while I work on another with writing or grammar. So we rotate through.”

Benefits – Parent & Child Perspectives

Taylor articulates many advantages to homeschooling for her family.

“My daughters’ relationship is stronger because they’re constantly together and the family unit is stronger because I’m with them a lot,” said Taylor. “Another huge benefit is I can tailor things to their interests. For example, if my daughter reads about Pluto and is totally enthralled, we can spend more time on it.”

Taylor said she enjoys doing nature studies with her daughters outdoors and she sees health benefits for her daughters as well.

“If they’re getting sick, I don’t have to overrun them and have them at the bus stop and at recess and gym,” added Taylor.

Her daughters have favorite parts about homeschooling as well.

“I like homeschooling because we get to go on cool field trips, learn about things that you normally don’t and you get out of school faster,” said Maya, 9. “I also like it because I get to do it with my sister.”

Her sister, Sienna, 6, said she enjoys doing devotionals in the mornings and when they do home economics activities.

Calzada describes a greater sense of cohesiveness for her family.

“I like knowing what my kids are learning so we can talk about it together as a family,” said Calzada. “I think it makes our experiences together – like going to a museum – more meaningful.”

Enriching Co-Op Experiences

The homeschool community comprises a close-knit group of interdependent individuals who often supplement their school week with participation in a local co-op to collectively advance the learning and social experiences of their children.

Taylor’s and Calzada’s children are part of a co-op that meets in Munson once per week during the school year. The co-op includes a total of five families – altogether consisting of 13 school-aged children.

“Co-ops are a way to give them a chance to do some things they aren’t able to do at home, like speech memorization and delivery because you have an audience within the co-op,” said Taylor. “Or a science project that requires a group.”

Although Rachel Albright, 37, a Munson resident, serves as the point person for the co-op, all five families participate in the planning and executing of each week’s activities, which culminate with unstructured playtime.

“The co-op is kindergarten through seventh grade, so it’s a nice mix like a Montessori setting,” said Albright.

Logan, 11, one of Albright’s four sons, said he likes getting to see his friends and learn about history.

“The age difference helps them to be a little more competitive and more comfortable with multiple age groups,” said Taylor. “Also, we have holiday parties and field trips. Last year, we went to the Cleveland Art Museum, Penitentiary Glen (Reservation) and Sage’s (Apples Fruit Farm & Market). This year, we’re going to try to go to Gettysburg together for a little weekend trip and to the Great Lakes Science Center.”

Through the co-op experience, Taylor’s daughter, Maya, said she has enjoyed getting to learn sign language and Sienna said she likes craft time, science experiments and playing with her friends afterward.

Extracurricular Opportunities

In addition to co-op opportunities within Geauga County, there is no shortage of extracurricular activities available to homeschooled children.

Among the many local organizations that now offer classes and programs specifically for the homeschool community are Emeth Gymnastics in Middlefield, Geauga Lyric Theatre in Chardon, the Geauga Park District and the Geauga County Public Library system. Last month, Fairmount Center for the Arts in Russell Township offered a new specialty series of dance classes specifically for homeschooled children.

In addition, homeschooled children are permitted to participate in a local school’s extracurricular activities, provided it is not a graded class.

Pearls of Wisdom for Homeschool Moms

In addition to homeschooling her children, Gorton is on the leadership team at Pearls Homeschool Moms Support Group, which she resurrected together with a fellow homeschool mom in 2001 after a period of dormancy for the Chardon-based group.

“We have roughly 25 to 30 families that come to the meetings on a regular basis,” said Gorton. “Then we have 100 people who are part of our private Facebook group. Pearls is a Christ-focused group, but our mission is to encourage all moms in the homeschool calling. We want to help people to be successful in homeschooling.”

In addition, Pearls has a well-established curriculum library offered as a free resource to homeschooling families.

Homeschooling Hurdles

Like most things in life, homeschooling comes with its advantages, but also with its own set of challenges.

“Some days, there’s a rhythm and some days, it’s a struggle,” said Taylor. “And some people are supportive and some are judgmental. And even being in a store during the day, strangers will ask the kids why they’re not in school. I think a lot of the stigma has to do with thinking that your child has issues rather than homeschooling being seen as a choice.”

Calzada highlighted the dilemma of adjusting teaching material or approach to different ages.

“And in general, there’s always the challenge of getting your kids motivated – getting their cooperation,” added Calzada.

Gorton said since homeschool moms are with their children 24/7, that, alone, brings its own set of challenges.

Encouragement Through Example

Calzada said it’s encouraging when you see moms who have schooled their kids all the way through high school – to see that it can be done.

“At Pearls, we want to give full perspective to the new moms coming in,” said Gorton.

Gorton’s homeschooling longevity coupled with having two older children who are now homeschool graduates and one soon-to-be graduate provide that very illustration for newly established homeschool moms.

Gorton’s oldest daughter, Hannah, 23, graduated from homeschool in 2012 and is currently the office coordinator for the Geauga County Department of Maintenance.

Her son, Nathan, 20, graduated from homeschool in 2015 and currently works for the Geauga County Department on Aging. In addition, Nathan is taking college classes through Lumerit Education with plans to transition to a traditional college.

Her daughter, Leah, 18, will graduate in 2018. Leah is currently enrolled at Auburn Career Center in the EMS program. Gorton’s youngest two children, Lydia, 16, and Marilla Anne, 13, will continue to be homeschooled until graduation.

As a homeschooling veteran and leader at Pearls, Gorton helps parents get started, find curriculum, provides assistance with notification forms and walks them through the outline.

“It sounds scary, but it isn’t,” said Gorton. “If we can bring the scary down for them, they can do this. They can homeschool their child.”

The Pearls support group meets the third Monday of each month, September through May, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Chardon Christian Fellowship, 401 South Hambden Street in Chardon. To learn more about the support group, visit www.pearlshomeschool.org, and for questions about the group or other homeschooling resources, contact Gorton directly at pearlshomeschool@gmail.com.