Homeschooling: Creating an Education Environment

Missie Gautsch wanted stability for her children.

With her husband Ty in the Marine Corps at the time, Missie knew any stability they would have as a family would need to come from within their home.“If anybody has moved around a lot when they were children, they know how crazy different schools can be from each other.”

Gautsch has homeschooled her children Hannah, 14, Josh, 12, and Caleb, 7, since Hannah was ready for kindergarten. The idea of sending her 5-year-old to full day kindergarten was unappealing, so Gautsch looked into an alternative.

“All of those things contributed to us choosing to homeschool from the beginning, and then once we did, we just loved it and stuck with it,” Gautsch said.

A Day in the Classroom

Gautsch juggles homeschooling with her other job, owning and operating the Darby Brooke Nutrition Center in Lake Ridge.

Missie and Ty split their hours between school at home, and work at the center; Ty taking the morning school shift, starting around 9:30 a.m. every morning, and Missie finishing up with the kids around 2 p.m., leaving time for after-school activities.

The Gautsch family is actively involved in the homeschool co-op, Covenant Christian Co-op, which meets Friday mornings at their church, Occoquan Bible Church, on Old Bridge Road.

“The kids take classes from other moms who are passionate about what they are teaching, and we have moms who organize different field trips around the area,” Gautsch said.

Homeschooling allows her to focus on academics and cut out some of the time wasters that occur in traditional school, like standing in line for the bathroom, to wash hands, or to get their lunch. She says they spend less time in class, but still accomplish the same amount.

“Since I’m working three on one, if they’re struggling with a concept, I can give them that one on one attention, so the struggle doesn’t last two weeks. It may last two days, but not two weeks, or never be resolved.” It’s the kind of individual attention that could only be accomplished in a home school environment, Gautsch said.

“School in a Box”

Gautsch’s children are enrolled in Christian Liberty Academy School Systems that she found online through Homeschools.org . Commonly referred to as a “boxed curriculum”, the program provides the family with the books, teaching and testing materials for each grade level, and offers grading services, report cards, transcripts and diplomas.

“Lots of people I know pick and choose curriculum from different sources and that kinda gives me a little heart attack thinking of having to do that,” she said.

The Gautsch family does the curriculum throughout the year and sends 60 percent of the workbooks and all of the tests back to class for grading and report cards.

A concern of those interested in homeschooling is the financial cost of buying your own teaching materials. Gautsch estimates that she spends approximately $1,600 per year for the curriculum for her three students.

For the materials, grading services, online resources, and tutoring support that the program offers, Gautsch feels that the program is a great deal.

“For us, it seems the best of both worlds. Our kids will enter college having both the reports that a college will want to see and the benefit of being homeschooled,” Gautsch said.

On Being a Home Educator

“My homeschool is as effective as my self-discipline,” Gautsch said. “If I’m disciplined and have all my ducks in a row, it’s beautiful and we all love it and enjoy it. When I have slacked off on my discipline, like if I haven’t gotten the dishes done or trying to pay bills during school time, then it’s a mess.”

Being distracted by household duties is a constant challenge when working in one’s home. In the middle of the kitchen it’s easy to think, ‘I’ll just do a few dishes,’ or ‘just empty the dishwasher,’ or ‘get dinner started.’ “You just have to say, ‘No this time is for school, and that’s what I’m doing,’” Gautsch said.

It’s what the Gautschs have been doing for the past eight years.  “Every year we reevaluate. Are our children thriving? Are they learning what they need to learn, or should they go to public school? We talk to our children as well. They know they have the option to go to [public] school.”

Upon graduating from eighth grade, the Gautschs asked their daughter Hannah to seriously consider whether she’d be happier continuing homeschooling, or attending public school. [Read her essay on this important choice.]

For now, home education is still the best choice for the Gautsch children, and work of being educators continues for parents Missie and Ty.

“I look at it like this is my job for these years, just like if I was at a job, from nine to five I would give them my best work,” Gautsch said. “From 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. my job is to home school my children, so I’m going to give my children my best work.”