Many consider home schooling viable option for local families

Posted Apr 12, 2012 By Laurie Weir

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EMC News - Home schooling seemed like a natural thing to do for the Schilke family of rural Smiths Falls.

Amy, and her husband Rev. Daniel Schilke, began home-schooling their first-born son a week after he first attended school in New Jersey.

"His teacher asked me if I'd ever considered home schooling," she said. "I'd prayed about it, and it seemed to fall into place."

Now that 15-year-old, Stefan, is in high school, he attends Perth and District Collegiate Institute where he holds down a 90 per cent average.

"I like it," he says. "It's a lot different."

He says he enjoys math, music, soccer and track at PDCI.

"I like the 3,000 (metre track event) and 1,500 and I love soccer," he says.

The Schilkes have eight other children at home, all younger than Stefan - the little one, Joy, is now two.

A typical school day in the Schilke home begins as Daniel holds a bible class every morning for 20 minutes. Amy then engages the oldest children in lessons: Caleb, 13, Abby, 11, Gabe, 10, Liam, 8, Lizzy, 7 and Miriam, 5, start with household chores before their class time commences.

Nathaniel, 3, and Joy are also part of the daily schooling routine, but all are at different stages.

Their downstairs classroom is equipped with school desks, a chalk board, library, computers, reference books and interactive learning tools. Each child has a chart of school work and allotted time periods for each subject, like in a regular school.

"They tend to want to get at their school work early, so they have the afternoon free," Amy says. "But each one is different. I find the boys have a different learning style than the girls."

The Schilkes are supported in their home schooling endeavours by the Rideau Valley Home Educators' Association, an organization that is celebrating 22 years in eastern Ontario. On Saturday, the home educators' conference will be held in Kanata, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kanata Baptist Church. Seminars will be presented all day on a wide variety of topics and will benefit individuals considering home education as an alternative, those who have just started homeschooling, seasoned homeschoolers needing a fresh perspective, those interested in teaching high school at home, those teaching children with learning disabilities, home schooled teens, dads of home schooled kids and more.

The conference also includes a large vendor hall that hosts Eastern Ontario's largest exhibition of home school resources. A variety of curriculum representatives will be available to answer your questions about home education and to assist you in choosing curriculum and supplies to support your home education program.

According to Ellen Hackett, chair of the RVHEA, more and more families are opting for home schooling these days.

"There are thousands of families in eastern Ontario who are choosing to home school," she said. "Home schooling gives parents flexibility. If you love kids and enjoy learning, then home schooling may be an option."

Hackett says there are a number of reasons why families choose home schooling - from religious beliefs, to convenience or even to solve problems of bullying in a regular school or have academic problems. There is no "typical" home schooled family.

"Families are individual - each one teaches their children what works best for them," Hackett says. "We encourage parents to develop a plan that will cater their family's individual needs and it's the parents who lead the education."

She says that parents have a variety of options in terms of a lesson plan and curriculum. Math and a language arts program is the skeleton but beyond that, it's really up to the parent and child.

There are a lot of internet groups and support groups like ours that are ready to offer assistance.

The Rideau Valley Home Educators Association is a Christian group but we welcome anyone."

Through groups like the RVHEA, Hackett says parents are able to share, trade, and pass around text books as needed. There is an ample supply of library books as well and unlimited resources available online.

See a future edition of the EMC for more on this story.

ljweir@metroland.com




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