| homeschooling |
Outside the classroom
Homeschool community instills life lessons into young learners
by Jessi Flowers
As another academic year approaches those between the age of 5 and 18 are preparing to return to class ; however , according to the National Home Education Research Institute , in 2022 about five percent of students will not return to a public or private school , but rather homeschool .
Initially beginning in the 1970 ’ s the concept of homeschool has skyrocketed and is now a mainstream concept .
“ My youngest started in a public school where they would group two grades together ,” said Lisa Ulakovits who will have a total of 25 years as a homeschool teacher when her youngest children graduates high school . “ When he was in first grade it was great because he was being challenged by the second grade material .”
However , once the next school year began , and her son was still in the mixed first and second grade class things changed .
“ He stopped being challenged and got bored , which caused him to start becoming a little trouble maker ,” said Ulakovits . “ I tried to get him bumped up to the third and fourth grade class , but the school was unyielding .”
To ensure her son would be able to grow at the pace he needed , he was pulled from school .
“ Other than one friend , I didn ’ t know anyone who homeschooled ,” said Ulakovits . “ I had no idea what I was doing when I first started , but I wanted my child to be able to learn .”
Beginning something foreign to her , Ulakovits started her homeschool teaching career .
“ When I first homeschooled I had four kids ,” said Ulakovits . “ My oldest was in second grade and the next in preschool .” Initially , Ulakovits tried to keep a rigid routine . “ At first , I tried to keep up with everything they did in public school , like the pledge of allegiance ,” said Ulakovits . “ I tried to do ‘ school at home ’ - make it the way it would be done if you were actually at school .”
To assist with this concept , Ulakovits utilized all available resources .
“ There were companies you could order each years ’ course books , which had a student version and a teacher version ,” said Ulakovits . “ We would also all go to the library quite often to gather materials on a specific topics for unit studies .”
In addition to both those methods , Ulakovits also took advantage of homeschool group classes .
“ We were involved in our community ’ s group for a lot of years - about six ,” said Ulakovits . “ We would get together and do the electives so there were more kids to participate , and then the core schooling would be done at home .”
Over time , as the homeschool method grew in popularity , the group also grew .
“ Eventually , it became so large that it split into two groups ,” said Ulakovits . “ One was primarily still focused on electives while the other was actually doing school together and then each mom would focus on homework at home .”
30 MoultrieScene AUGUST 2024