The Homeschool Awakening

A Washington State resident...

...fell ill after returning from Wuhan, China.

This is certainly not a moment for panic.

They're making the call to close public schools.

The nation's second largest school district...

...will now close.

District officials,

shut down Wildwood Elementary and Ferrucci Junior High.

Isolation, screen time,

lack of physical activity.

I saw depression.

I saw them lose interest in life.

When you look at your kids to do less,

is that enough just to make you break down?

Yes.

And it's crazy 'cause they're kindergarten and 2nd grade.

I can't even imagine a parent who is not a teacher at all,

getting on all of these materials.

Lord God, the spirit of common...

...has attacked our household.

It's shut down schools.

It has caused havoc.

They're gonna pull their children from this.

Every day, I feel like a failure.

I'm scared, I am really scared.

- Hello? - Kirk, you gotta help me.

I don't know what I'm doing.

- I'm totally lost. - Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Wow, slow down.

- Okay. Okay. Okay. - What's going on?

Home schooling, I can't teach my kids.

- Oh, homeschooling? - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Chelsea and I homeschooled all six of our kids.

How, I'm totally unqualified for this?

I totally relate to your feeling...

...but you are qualified to teach your kids.

You might need a curriculum,

but that's not the first thing you need.

Socialization.

Yeah, you're not the first one to bring that up.

Yes, homeschooled kids go to college.

They even get scholarships.

Isn't homeschooling like public school at home?

Not even close.

Never thought I can homeschool.

I just didn't think I could do it.

I'm gonna get it wrong.

What if I screw it up?

That was before we had kids,

and then we had kids.

I'm responsible for what we're putting into their head,

and into their heart.

I know it scared me.

I decided to at least try it.

Break the mold. Break the mold.

Homeschooling looks like fun.

I always viewed homeschooling as somewhat of a cult.

Those children are abnormal in some way...

...that they are awkward.

Homeschooling was not on my radar.

There were a lot of things I enjoy doing...

...while my kids were at school.

I thought that they were kind of the different people.

I just didn't get it.

I kind of thought that homeschooling meant...

...that you were Amish and you made your bread from scratch.

It had a certain look to it,

and it just didn't seem like it was me.

A potential for a lack of education.

Did it really exist in society?

Quiet, secluded, reclusive.

I can't homeschool because I'd have...

...to be home all the time and I wouldn't be able to work,

and there'd be no flexibility.

Why would you wanna homeschool your kids?

Don't you care about your children's education?

You'll have no friends.

And how are they gonna learn science.

- Are you a history teacher? - Exactly.

Are you a math instructor?

I didn't ever think that anybody that homeschooled did...

...things in real life.

I didn't know how.

I didn't understand what does it look like?

He says to me,

"You're not gonna wanna be one..."

"...of those homeschooling families"

And I went, "Oh no,"

"Those are weird."

- "I'm not doing that." - Yeah, who does that?

No, no, no.

I won't be one of those.

And I remember telling him, I won't.

- I won't do that. - Totally.

My journey into considering homeschooling.

I think was motivated by,

one, I was traveling so much with work.

And so when I was home I wanted to be with my family.

I wanted to be with my kids but my kids were in school.

And then they come home and they have sports,

and they have homework and all the things...

...that we want them to be doing.

So when I'm traveling I can't see them.

When I'm home I feel like I don't get much time,

with the kids and time is going by so fast.

And so I started to think about,

wait a minute, how do we?

Is there any way to rearrange this schedule?

And what's taking up most of the time,

in our kids schedule is school.

As a mom,

especially with my first baby,

Like I was,

You're just with them 24/7.

All of a sudden,

time for school,

and this kind of unnatural feeling inside of,

is this really what I should be doing?

What?

Dropping them off for a lot of hours somewhere else?

It's just what you do.

It's what we did.

I remember going, okay,

why do I take my kids to school?

So that they can learn.

And I thought,

wait a minute,

if that's ultimately the goal,

is this the only way to get there.

- Is it the best way to get there? - Right.

Is it the most efficient way to get there.

And I thought,

I don't think so.

I was starting to feel like some...

...of the kids were not arriving in the way that I would like.

They're stressed out.

I don't want them to have that heavy spirit about learning.

I want them to love learning.

It just started to grow in my mind and in my heart,

like I should really consider this.

I should look into at least what this is.

Mommy look at my feet,

- they're frozen. - I feel so bad.

That they're stuck there.

Oh yeah, look at that.

When you have kids,

you start to realize these little people are in my care.

I'm responsible for what we're putting into their head,

and into their heart.

And being a believer changed it even more.

It wasn't even from an education standpoint,

it was more from a...

...how do I impart the knowledge of God and His love,

and His care into them too,

like it's been done for me?

Why does God want us to be selfless?

So that we can think of the other people around us.

But what if you are tempted to feel hopeless?

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy,

and peace as you trust in Him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power,

of the Holy Spirit."

Amen.

And I really felt that homeschooling was the best option.

For our family to be able to do that.

- I'm Ron. - I'm Reesha

And we have this many kids.

He started playing basketball professionally overseas.

I didn't want it to be a situation...

...where I would only see my family in the summer.

So her kindergarten...

...we began homeschooling and then over time more kids.

Our family started to expand and we were still doing that.

It gave us incredible stability and flexibility.

It was never something that we tought like this,

we're gonna do this forever.

We just knew we liked it and that it was working.

Who taught you to peep, Hayden?

I had actually had an experience when I was,

I think, eight years old.

I was sitting in class and we're doing a test,

and a kid was looking off of my paper.

And I raised my hand to tell the teacher.

"Hey, so-and-so's looking at my stuff,"

And the teacher said to me,

"Chris, he would not cheat off of you."

"Because you are too stupid for him to cheat off of you."

And I accepted it and I didn't think about it until I was...

...in university and I wrote a paper.

"They Got Celebrated".

And the teacher held that paper up before the class,

and read it and said,

"This is an example of a good paper."

All this time I felt stupid and I flashed back...

...to that moment and I go,

my kid is not gonna have that experience.

We were doing block parties.

Their little kids would be over at our house,

and say things that would make a sailor blush.