The term “homeschool” might bring to mind the image of a mother, seated with her children around the kitchen table, spending her day working with each child on a variety of school subjects.
For some homeschoolers, this might be the case. Over the course of the past 20 years, however, the term “homeschool” has come to encompass a variety of educational approaches for parents.
When Heather Ward started homeschooling in 2001, she had little company and fewer available resources compared to today. Ward’s sister had homeschooled her children, and Ward was inspired to try after her eldest son demonstrated an eagerness to learn new material in pre-kindergarten. From that point on, Ward said, “It was a lifestyle.”
Ward, a parishioner of Our Lady of Hope Church in Potomac Falls, began with a traditional homeschool approach of using a structured curriculum to teach different school subjects. From there, she began to experiment.
“I learned pretty quickly that all kids learn differently,” Ward said. While her oldest two sons had similar learning styles, her younger daughter needed a new approach. “I had to mix things up and try things that were different and find materials that would play to her strengths. So, that led to a different homeschooling journey.”
In part, it included enrolling her kids in several homeschool co-ops, which began to pop up in Northern Virginia in the early 2000s.
Co-ops function as a single-day school and offer core curriculum, college prep and elective classes for homeschool families looking to supplement education at home. Co-ops hire former teachers, professors or professionals well-versed in their subject area, Ward said. For parents homeschooling multiple kids at once, “The idea of having everything in one place on one day really simplifies your schedule.”
When Ward’s two oldest children reached high school, they joined the newly founded NOVA Catholic Homeschool Co-op in 2014. Two years later, Ward went on to become a board member of the co-op, which meets at Christ the Redeemer Church in Sterling.
NCHS serves more than 30 families of high school students in the Sterling area and offers college prep courses, such as U.S. government, U.S. history, English, math, personal finance, biology, chemistry and physics. “It’s like a one-stop-shop program,” Ward said.
Other homeschool co-ops function as a ministry of a parish. Catholic Homeschool Resource and Support Ministry is a ministry of St. Francis de Sales Church in Purcellville. The pre-K-12 co-op offers college prep and core curriculum courses.
CHRSM Co-director Amy Grady said the co-op serves students but also, “It’s a ministry for the parents as well. It’s a support ministry,” Grady said. Parents of students pre-k through eighth grade stay on site during classes and mingle.
CHRSM, founded in 2018 by four co-directors, serves more than 100 families. Every Tuesday, homeschool families gather for daily Mass before classes begin. Father James R. Gould, pastor, is available for confessions during the morning.
“It helps families grow in their faith, because doing all these things together as a community, it’s just inspiring and it creates a good opportunity for fellowship,” Grady said.
One of the largest Catholic co-ops in Northern Virginia is Holy Trinity Homeschoolers, a ministry of Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville. The co-op became a parish ministry in 2011 with the approval of Father Thomas P. Vander Woude, pastor. One of the most popular classes is Father Vander Woude’s “Philosophy of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings” class, according to Ministry Leader Erin Bender.
“What we do is supplemental to what the families are doing at home,” Bender said. HTH offers elective classes for K through sixth grade and academic classes for grades six to 12. “All of our priests and even one of our deacons offer a class. They’re brilliant, and all of their classes are very popular.”
HTH also offers extracurricular clubs for students to participate in, such as board games, crafting and baking clubs.
Other Catholic co-ops in Northern Virginia include Warrenton Schoolhouse in Warrenton, the Manassas Area Roman Catholic Homeschoolers and Aquinas Learning Homeschool Program in Manassas. Aquinas Learning Director Rosario Reilly stated that 170 students are enrolled in the program. “We started 15 years ago and have built a wonderful homeschool community of like-minded faithful Catholic families that are endeavoring to form strong faithful leaders,” Rosario said.
Emily Frase, a parishioner of All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, began homeschooling her first-grade daughter this year with Aquinas Learning. “We decided to homeschool our oldest and just our oldest this year,” she said.
Her decision to homeschool came from multiple factors, “looking at what our kids individually needed, what we could supply and where those needs could best be met.”
“I’ve been blessed to meet a lot of families in our homeschool co-op who have the philosophy, ‘One year at a time, one kid at a time,’ ” Frase said. “Every year we look at each individual child and reevaluate, ‘Okay, how has this gone so far?’ ”
With a multi-school approach, “There’s more of a docility to that, to just being open to what God’s calling me to do on a year-to-year basis, because it does change,” she said.
For parents like Nancy Engelhard, an “all of the above” approach fits best.
Engelhard, a parishioner of Christ the Redeemer, never expected to homeschool. “Even though I had some really amazing and wonderful friends who were homeschooling, I thought I wasn’t capable of doing it myself. But God had other plans,” she said.
Engelhard originally enrolled her children in Ambleside School, a Christian private school in McLean. In 2013, one of her six children was diagnosed with “a challenging health condition,” Engelhard said. After she withdrew her son from the school, “That was my first case of homeschooling.”
Not long after, Engelhard said that family finances required her to withdraw her other children from the school. She turned to her homeschooling friends, who gave her a list of homeschool resources.
Engelhard enrolled her children in a co-op and used other educational resources at home. “Several of my children have dyslexia, so I was never able to use a boxed curriculum,” she said. Engelhard’s oldest son was a fast learner, however, and she sought ways to challenge him in academics.
She enrolled her oldest in Queen of Heaven Academy, which offers interactive live classes, and NCHS. For her other children, she used a combination of different curriculums, co-ops and online classes. “Each one of my children is so different and has different gifts and needs and challenges,” Engelhard said.
Homeschooling allows parents to pass on their faith and values through education, Engelhard added. “Our schooling isn’t separate from that, just as our faith isn’t in a separate compartment from the rest of our lives.”
Homeschooling is a journey you can make your own, Engelhard said. “What I would say, if anyone’s considering homeschooling, is to surround themselves with community and to give it a shot, take it to prayer. It’s not only possible, it’s such a blessing.”
