A Day in the (Homeschooling)
Life of the Strawser Family
By Heidi Strawser
When my oldest daughter Ashley
was born, if you had asked me if I
would consider homeschooling, I
would have said, “No way!” Five years
later, when it came time to send her off to
school and the teachers in our local school
district were striking for a contract settlement, I decided that the best place for
Ashley was at home with me. I loved her
and had her best interests at heart, and I
was sure that I could teach her as well, if
not better than, any teacher. So, our home-schooling journey began.
When Ashley was in second grade, my
husband Brian and I journeyed to Vietnam
to bring our daughter Gracie home. Ashley
was a very social child, and I started having
my doubts that Gracie and I were enough
to fill her needs. So, we enrolled Ashley in
the local public school. Looking back, we
wish we hadn’t made that choice for her,
but we’ve learned some lessons as a result
of those few years of having Ashley in the
school system, and they have helped us
plan better for our homeschooling.
When Gracie turned 4, she was intent
on learning to read, and we decided to start
homeschooling her. She was the perfect
homeschool student—a perfectionist and a
motivated learner. She has certainly taught
this homeschool mom a lot of lessons over
the years, the most important ones being
that every child is different and that they all
learn in different ways.
What worked for Ashley often doesn’t
work for Gracie. I may have thought that
phonics was the only (or best) way to teach
reading, but Gracie had another plan. She
wanted to learn to read now, and there was
no time for phonics. She would ask what a
word said and commit each word to
memory.
Ashley came back home that same year,
and we’ve been homeschooling ever since.
It is my prayer that we can continue
through graduation. Each year seems to get
easier, and we are continually learning new
things. One of the things that we have
enjoyed over the years is using The
Mystery of History (both volumes) with
the girls. My most treasured moments are
of the three of us around the table, reading
about history, discussing our thoughts on
things, and doing the activities together.
Not only has it been a learning experience,
but it’s been a bonding experience also.
Some of the other curricula that we have
used and enjoyed are the Apologia science
courses (both elementary and high school
level) as well as VideoText Interactive
Mathematics for high school math. Gracie
is a “worksheet kind of girl,” so even
though she didn’t want anything to do with
A Beka’s reading program, she continues
Some days I think that I am
