Jacquelyn Moses, a parent of a kindergartner, has this to say about their family’s first year at SLO Classical Academy . . .
I’m writing this testimonial to describe the unanticipated blessings that homeschooling has brought to our family. Let me start off by saying I never wanted to home school. Ever since the birth of our oldest I have always looked forward to the day when I could send the kids off to school for a few hours and have a chance to catch up on house work and the millions of things that don’t get done when you are trying to juggle kids, friends, church and … well, … life!
When my husband and I started to explore our options for educating our children we realized that we would not be able to afford private school, we don’t live near a good public school and we weren’t really excited about full time home school. After attending a Parent’s Night at the school without me, my husband came home full of excitement over the Classical Academy program and I knew we had found something special.
Once I got over the initial fear of being a teacher and realized that education is a “full contact” sport I was all for it. We did have a few things to sort out at beginning of this year; we had a few questions and some minor glitches but for the most part, we’ve had a lot of fun.
I really believe that I have become a better mother to all 3 children because I’m approaching things differently now. I’ve always read stories to them, but using the Five in a Rowcurriculum has given me a structured way to teach my kids from any book I read. I’ve also been able to include my 3 year old and 1 year old in some of the most basic aspects of many of the lessons which teaches all of them to follow direction, extend their attention span, enjoy the world around them and be excited about learning together, working together and playing together. Approaching life as an educator instead of as simply a child care provider makes a huge difference!
One of the things that has helped me the most is knowing that the “real teacher” does the lesson planning and that she is available for reassurance and helpful suggestions whenever I need it. It is so comforting to know that the only way to fail at this thing is to quit. As it turns out, it isn’t as time consuming or difficult as I thought it would be, who knew teaching kindergarten could be so much fun!
