From Homeschool to Bible School

It’s like living on a different planet, yet it feels as natural as singing.

A few weeks ago I was living at home having just finished my college degree online, feeling very “in between.” I had a degree, but no job, no car, and no plan for my life. What I did have was a passion for Britain, and a need to get closer to the Lord. After finding out about Capernwray Bible School I knew what I had to do, and on April 14 I began the biggest adventure of my life so far—a journey to Lancashire, England that would mean attending a “real school” for the first time in my life.

Maybe you’re on the verge of just such a transition. If so, you’re wondering, “Did homeschooling prepare you for Bible school? What was the transition like?”  

As you all know, it’s sometimes difficult for us homeschool girls to find great numbers of friends. We usually have a few deep friendships rather than a broad spectrum of acquaintances. That was certainly characteristic of my childhood. I have five or six girls I would consider my best friends, and I’ve never been able to break out of that. Part of me has wished for more friends, but my introverted self is more than happy to stick with my few dear friends rather than settle for more shallow relationships.

Bible school has plunged me into the 24/7 company of 152 students, many around the same age as me, most of them at the same place in life—in between. Men, women, boys, girls, Canadians, Germans, Romanians, Brits, missionary kids, homeschoolers, public schoolers, all these are swirled into a motley jumble of people longing to know the Lord. It’s a radical departure from my normal, sitting at home quietly working through school with my little brother for company. Now I’m attending six lectures a day, participating in a family group and interactive group, and sharing a bedroom with four other girls. 

The amazing thing is that I don’t feel uncomfortable. Beyond the initial nervousness, I have been able to cope with the drastic difference, and go beyond coping—I’m loving it here. From the first day I was making friends, and right now I have a great crowd I enjoy being around, but more importantly there are several people I feel I can confide in, whom I trust to share my joys and struggles with. I’ve learned to sit with strangers in the dining hall, strike up conversations with the least encouragement, and participate in just about every possible activity.

Me and my dear roommates!

Maybe you think I’m just different. You could never burst right in and start making friends like that, you’ve never been able to. Well let me tell you, I’m no social butterfly. It’s a struggle for me to speak sometimes, and it’s never easy to open up to a stranger.

Homeschooling was actually a great preparation for another form of education. Growing up I was forced to make friends with all kinds of people, kids near my age as well as adults and the elderly. That stretched me in vital ways, and now I feel comfortable with a wide variety of personalities. Doing college studies at home helped me get used to deadlines and the basics of essay writing, which is making the transition even easier.

The hardest part about "real school" is balancing social time with study time. Hanging out with friends has never been something that interfered with my schoolwork, but now there's a jam-packed schedule and so many great things to do. If you're getting ready to graduate from homeschool to something different, give some thought to how you will balance your social life and your homework. Both are important, and one shouldn't be sacrificed for another, but they need to each have their place.

I'm still figuring this thing, out, but it's a wonderful experience so far. Have you experienced some other kind of schooling, maybe a few years at a private or public school, or college? What was the hardest thing to get used to?

Reading List for Homeschool High Schoolers

If you're being homeschooled through high school, one of your greatest anxieties (fears? terrors?) might be college. Sure, it sounds exciting, but it's also intimidating, isn't it? After all, universities are designed for kids who have been in public schools their entire lives, and it's possible that what we've learned at home just won't cut it in the "real world."

Well, as a homeschool graduate who has also earned a bachelor's degree in English, I'm here to give you some solid advice that should make you feel a lot better.

Student, a photo by CollegeDegrees360 on Flickr.

First, breathe. 

It's OK, you can have confidence in your parents, your curriculum, and your own abilities, and of course God. It's natural to be nervous about transitioning from home education to a public or private college, but it doesn't have to be a bumpy ride.

One thing that will help enormously is to be familiar with the books that you will be studying in-depth once you get to college. Since my major was in English I spent a lot of time reading and analyzing Non-Western literature, British literature, and American literature—a lot of books in other words. Though there were many that I had never read before, it helped that I was familiar with the classics and had been exposed to many of those works.

Though there can be no complete reading list for the college-bound student, here are some titles that I think you'll find very helpful to read (or at least get the CliffsNotes on) before striking out into the stormy waters of higher education. Even if you're not going to college, these are some of the most well-known books in the Western world and can broaden your horizons, deepening your insight and giving you some common ground with your public schooled friends. 

Disclaimer: Not all of these books have a Christian worldview, or are even very pleasant to read, but they offer valuable opportunities for testing your faith and applying what you have learned. If your parents don't want you to read some of them, by all means don't. There are many other valuable reads that I have left out, but this should get you started. 

How many of these have you already read?

• The Norton Anthologies: These collections of excerpts and whole works are invaluable to the serious student. Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, stories from the Middle East, Latino or Australian literature—you could spend decades reading these anthologies alone. Old editions can be bought fairly cheaply on sites like eBay and Amazon. 
• Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
• Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club
• Angelou, Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 
• Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman
• Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
• Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart
• Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence
• Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea and perhaps The Sun Also Rises
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby and perhaps Tender is the Night
• Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis 
• Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• George Orwell: Animal Farm, 1984
• Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin 
• Henry James: Daisy Miller: A Study.
• Herman Melville: Moby Dick and "Bartleby the Scrivener"
• James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans, The Pioneers, The Deerslayer (then read Mark Twain's "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses")
• Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and perhaps Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion
• John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and perhaps The Pearl
• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
• Kate Chopin: The Awakening 
• Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina. War and Peace
• Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and perhaps A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Innocents Abroad
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
• Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables
• Ralph Ellison: The Invisible Man
• Richard Wright: Native Son
• Robert Frost,        Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes: Selected poems
• Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and others
• T.S. Eliot: "The Waste Land"
• Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar named Desire, Glass Menagerie 
• Upton Sinclair: The Jungle 
• Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse
• Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass
• Washington Irving: "Rip Van Winkle"
• Willa Cather: My Ántonia
• William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury
• Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Besides my personal college experience, these are some helpful resources I referenced:

• thehomescholar.com
• goodreads.com
• homeschool-rewards.com
• homeschool-rewards.com
• homeworktips.about.com
• als.lib.wi.us

Good Girls Really Do Have More Fun

Who says that you have to be lewd, rude, and worldly-wise to have fun? My summer trip is proof that a few girls with spunk, imagination, and a big sense of humor can have a blast without resorting to gossip, trashy talk, coarse programming, or any real naughtiness beyond one-too-many cups of tea.

The adventure began with my first ever flight on an airplane (It was definitely something special!). I flew down to Austin, TX to meet one of my best friends, Aubrey, who then drove with me to San Antonio where we spent several glorious days with two of the sweetest, fun-est girls ever, Brittany and Victoria. All of us have something wonderful in common—we are all Christian homeschool girls.

You have probably read and heard people talk about how “sheltered” girls are no fun at all. They’re naïve, clueless, and utterly dull. We know that this is so far from the truth! However, if you’re like me you’ve probably wondered how the other half lives…maybe you’ve been tempted to do something that went against your conscience because you wondered if you were missing out on something really wonderful.

Because we do miss out on things, right? There are movies we can’t see, books we can’t read, music we can’t listen to, places we can’t go, people we can’t befriend, experiences we can’t have, all because we love the Lord and want to please him. And, to be honest, sometimes that feels incredibly limiting. Even if we don’t respect the “bad girls,” even if we know the consequences of their actions, isn’t it hard not to go there ourselves, if only in our minds?  

Tea, scarves, and friends—what could be better?

Some people would probably say that it’s impossible to keep oneself separate from the things of the world. They argue that evil is too pervasive, and if we truly cut ourselves off from everything that didn’t honor God then we would be living in a cardboard box in the middle of the desert. But do you know what I learned from my trip to Texas? That girls like Brittany and Victoria can dress modestly and be cute. They can watch movies and avoid profanity and innuendo. They can show their girlfriends a good time without resorting to cheap entertainment like alcohol or seedy nightclubs.

 Tell me if this sounds like fun:

·         Watching Doctor Who while wrapped in a life-size replica of Tom Baker’s scarf

·         Shopping for teaspoons at a quirky little antique shop

·         Trying weird new foods like kippers, Marmite, and Fevertree ginger beer

·         Laughing over our celebrity crushes (most of my friends’ would be over 100 years old if they weren’t already dead)

·         Watching hilarious YouTube videos late into the night

·         Talking in British accents—constantly

·         Having afternoon tea once or twice a day (complete with jammy biscuits and scrummy muffins)

·         Singing along to Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, and The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

·         Doing the Happy Dance in front of the Alamo (I have provided a video for your enlightenment)

People can call us sheltered. They can say we’re missing out. But do you know what I say? Good girls really do have more fun.

Top 5 Tips for Making Friends

If there's one complaint about homeschooling that I hear more than any other, it is that homeschool students get less socialization than students at public schools. At rock bottom, that analysis is spot on--someone who is educated at home has a great chance of meeting fewer people during the school day than someone who is plunged into a morass of hundreds of peers for 6.7 hours 5 days a week. 


What it comes down to is that if you're homeschooled then you have to work a little harder to make friends. 

Three of my most precious friends! This photo was taken
at my cousin's (on the far left) wedding.

This is something I've definitely struggled with. I live out in the country on the outskirts of a small town (think less than 700 people), my parents are not social butterflies, we attend a tiny church, and I'm not part of a regular homeschool group. 


You can see why my circle of friends might be small.


However--and this is a big however--unless your parents have locked you in your bedroom with nothing but textbooks and a violin, you have no excuse for not having friends. If I can do it, anyone can!


Now this doesn't mean that you have to have at least three hundred people you're not related to called "friends" (check out Proverbs 18:24). At one time I was in a little theater production, working with strangers several days a week, and I realized that I didn't really want to be friends with all of them. I "clicked" with a few, however, and we still keep in touch. Sometimes a deep, small circle is better than a great big shallow one, but, you don't necessarily have to have one or the other. Here are my top 5 tips for anyone who wants to make some new friends:

1. Pray. Several years ago I was a little girl with only two or three people I could call friends--and one lived in California. I distinctly remember praying with all my heart that God would send a friend to me, a kindred spirit to laugh and grow up with. And you know what? A couple of months later I was blessed with that lovely lady second from the left in the photo above. What a gift!
2. Expose yourself. You'll never make friends if you never meet anyone. When doing a little research online I discovered one homeschool girl who makes friends at fencing practice, soccer practice, poetry club, drama club, chess club, art classes, kayaking, music classes, dances at the community center, conventions, camps, events at the library, volunteering, and more! There are so many opportunities to get out there and see a few new faces.
3. Be friendly. This might sound a bit obvious, but if you're naturally shy and reserved like me, you know how hard it can be to interact with strangers. However, I know that if I don't act welcoming, put people at ease, and--perhaps most importantly--share some of myself, I'm never going to get anywhere with a stranger. For you more outgoing types, be sure not to be overwhelming! Always treat others as you'd like to be treated :)
4. Follow up. If you need a reason to be on Facebook, this is probably it. As soon as you get home from chess club, connect with that nice redheaded girl and invite her to join you in a fun activity (ice skating, anyone?). Of course you don't have to have Facebook to do this, a telephone, email, or gasp face-to-face contact will suffice. You can't expect a stranger to remember you just because of your great personality, so make an effort and keep reaching out.
5. Don't give up. Maybe you've tried to start up conversations or correspondence with strangers, but it simply goes nowhere. Perhaps you have a lot of shallow relationships, but no one you feel you really know and trust. Don't throw in the towel yet! It may take years to foster an acquaintance into a bosom buddy, but keep praying, keep seeking, and keep being a friend to everyone you meet. The Lord Jesus is the dearest friend you will ever know, so follow him and see if he doesn't bring more friends to walk beside you! 

For more tips, check out "How to Make Friends As a Shy, Homeschooled Girl".

The Shocking Truth About Family

What's one of the worst things about homeschooling? You have to spend all day with your family. What's one of the best things about homeschooling? You have to spend all day with your family. 

Here's one of the biggest lies that our culture is telling families today: adults and teenagers don't mix. Teens, preteens, tweens—they all think they're cooler than their parents, and parents don't want to spend time with a bunch of immature jerks. So...it's best if the kids are shipped off to school every morning (preferably after Dad's already scooted out to the office) so that they can spend time with their cool peers, and everyone hopes that when they get back they've got a lot of homework to do so they'll stay in their bedrooms. Then they can get on Facebook and play video games until everyone is safe in their separate beds, in separate rooms, with their separate lives safely intact.

That's the lie.  

My own experience with homeschooling has been so different from this typical tableaux, it's unrecognizable. Our homeschooling lifestyle is the only thing that has made our family business possible; my parents own a contract cleaning company, and some of my earliest memories involve sitting in conference rooms and office kitchens, doing schoolwork with my little brother Aaron while Mom and Dad vacuumed and cleaned desks. Since neither of my parents were employees at a business outside the home, we were together as a family 24/7. That's more than many homeschooling families. As the years went by, Aaron and I were able to make a generous allowance by taking on more and more responsibilities, and that's only grown so that now there's no need for us to go out and get a part-time job at Sonic to earn a little spending money.

The shocking truth is that family time—even if it's all the time—can be marvelous. My parents and brother are some of my best friends in the whole world. I don't think that there are many 19-year-old girls who can say that. My mom has taught me cooking, cleaning, sewing, home repair, and we love going shopping together. My dad works so hard and sacrifices so much for all of us, and he's a pretty fun guy. Aaron is a good-looking, intelligent, social fellow who gives the best random hugs. Do we sometimes get sick of each other? Yeah, definitely. Would we sacrifice our closeness for a more segregated lifestyle? Not a chance.

Isn't this better than a school full of peers? Isn't this better than coming home every afternoon to a house full of people I barely know?

First Photo: 32, a photo by Fidenaut on Flickr.

Top 5 Advantages to Homeschooling

As homeschoolers, we have some amazing opportunities that kids in the traditional school system can only dream of. Here are the main five I've noticed in my life. I have had a pretty lenient school schedule—I probably classify as an unschooler—so maybe some things are unique to my style of education.

1. Freedom in Education

For me, education isn't a chore that must be completed before 3pm before I can have any free time. Learning is a lifestyle.

I was never forced to write essays or create models, so I didn't dread compiling books on equine psychology or drawing maps of the migration paths of Australian parrots—entirely on my own terms. I didn't waste time answering every question in the curriculum when I thoroughly understood the material—in fact, I never took an English course. Once I got the basics down, my history lessons came from whatever books and websites and field trips I could get my hands on, allowing me to corroborate the facts from various sources rather than taking one viewpoint's word for it. I adored science and supplemented my usual curriculum with the latest in the journals.

Plato said, "All learning which is acquired under compulsion has no hold upon the mind." Because I wasn't taught under compulsion, the knowledge I've gained has taken firm root and my mind blossoms with passion for learning.

2. Lessons in Self-Discipline and Time Management

Did I ever take advantage of my freedom and shrink away to less constructive pastimes when I should have been doing something educational? Yes. I learned my lesson, and it's a much better lesson to learn at this stage in life than later on, when it really matters.

I had the opportunity to learn essential life lessons like self-discipline and managing time and putting priorities in order the hard way before failing a college class or getting fired from my day-job. My experiences will give me discretion in the years ahead, when I won't have my parents around to ensure I complete assignments on time.

3. Free Time

Unless I put a time-consuming task upon myself there's really nothing to hinder me from pursuits that don't fall under core classes, like classical piano and drama and sewing and horse training and novel- and screenwriting. I can take an hour or two to practice that Bach piece or rehearse lines for a play, or spend the afternoon teaching my horse to play fetch, or dedicate the month of November to the National Novel Writing Month. Or just read. Or write this very post.

Each of these things could potentially lead to a career (well, maybe not writing this post), so they're important skills to develop.

4. Making Friends

Some people find it mind-boggling that homeschoolers actually make friends. (Really, if most kids don't make friends outside of school, what kind of sad lives do they lead?) But one of the great advantages to homeschooling is that we get to meet people with similar interests, be it at band practice, soccer games, robotics competitions—you name it. And among homeschool groups, we're likely to meet people who share our values, adding an extra level of intimacy to our friendships.

The main issue that spurred this blog was how lonely we homeschooled girls often feel surrounded by the worldly people around us, but at least, as homeschoolers, we do have more opportunities to seek out people like us. Just last week I was able to attend a Christian writers' conference (thanks to not having a rigid school schedule holding me back). It was my third time going, and each year I've made friendships I believe will last a lifetime.

I might not get to see my friends every day (which is mostly because I live a weird life and my friends live far away--they see their other friends regularly), but I do have a number of wonderful, true friendships that run far deeper than those portrayed by the media.

And if we are blessed enough to have friends nearby, as I once did, we can spend time with them while our school-going peers are in class or doing homework. I cherish the many daytime hours I got to spend with my friends before I moved away.

5. Spending Time with Family

I have been asked, "Don't you hate being around your parents all day?" If this is the mindset, something is wrong. That's not to say I don't long at times to stretch my wings, but living at home has cultivated healthy relationships with my parents and a stronger bond than would probably have formed if I only saw my mother in the evenings and weekends. (Which is probably why I'm not as close with my father.) It can be hard at times to be at home so much, but I endeavor to be nothing but loving. If I can't do that with my own family, I can't do that with anyone else.

I was an only child before my brother was born year before last, so I'm thankful I'm able to spend as much time experiencing sisterhood as possible before I go away.


Homeschooling has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I thank God daily for the opportunity to have such an education and for an unquenchable love of learning.

What great opportunities did you have through homeschooling that you couldn't have had otherwise?

Photo courtesy mikebaird on Flickr

When School Becomes Fun

To be homeschooled is a blessing.  There are many advantages that come 

with it, too {as Olivia mentions here}.  

Some people choose to look at school as a chore.  But, with homeschooling, we have more freedom with how we choose to do our subjects than students who attend public or private school.  

It's nice to have that as one of the pros to homeschooling.  

Our moms or dads can make our topics fun instead of dry, boring material that we dread doing 

{except for math...if you aren't a math person, there is not really a way around that one. ;)}.

For as long as I can remember, my favorite subject in school has been history!  I truly believe my mom is the one who taught me to love it so much, by her way of always trying to make it exciting, not just a jumble of boring facts/dates.  Interestingly enough, she never enjoyed history when she was in school and always remembered it as being a dry, uninteresting subject.  But, by homeschooling us, she is able to make our view of history opposite from what hers was.

One way she makes history come alive is by reading historical fiction based on the time period we are learning about.  It is surprising what a clear picture it gives you about characters that lived in history and what their everyday life was like.

History is truly a joy to do!  In particular, I have loved learning about the Ancient Roman time period.

One read aloud my mom tied in with that period in history was The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare.  That is a fantastic book!  Other favorites I read were Hostage Lands by Douglas Bond, Pearl Maiden by H. Rider Haggard & Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.

Another great way to make history fun is going on field trips!  The most memorable was visiting George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon {you can read about that trip here}.  

How amazing it was to walk where our first president lived!

These are just a few of the many things I love about homeschooling.  

Thank goodness for moms who take time to make school fun!

            School is what you make of it.  You can look at it as a chore or an opportunity to learn.

Which one will you choose?

{disclaimer: all images here}

Never Doing School

My childhood is probably the oddest thing you'll ever hear of. Or perhaps not. I'm sure we've all had those days where our mom wakes up and just says, "I don't want to do school today." So you don't.

Now imagine waking up like that every morning.

Let me give you a hint as to how this feels: it's so incredibly awesome, there are hardly words.

I can count on my fingers how many times in my memory that I've actually been made to sit down and do schoolwork. Out of those times, the majority of them were math lessons. Most of the time, we just go through life, learning as we go. Going to a park is an excuse for a science lesson or a social sciences lesson. The library provides our English class. We count things we pass on long drives, we tot up how much we owe in shops as we go through and get what we need.

That is my life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's given me the opportunity to do so many things that other kids don't get to do--important things like have the playground to myself, or having my pick of swings, or being able to linger at museum exhibits without crowds of people shoving me along. It's allowed me to participate in ministry opportunities I would have otherwise missed. For instance, twice a week, I travel to two different schools and help teach Good News Clubs. I stand in front of kids and tell them about Jesus and play games and get free hugs and help future pastors and missionaries on their ways.

Most of these things would never have happened if I'd been locked up in a school room all the time. I love being homeschooled or unschooled, or whatever it is you'd like to call it. And I wouldn't trade all that's happened for the world

Schooling... a bit differently

When it comes to schooling... we do things a bit *differently*.

I get up each morning, eat breakfast and complete chores.. and then begin school. Though, our school is special. Each day varies... sometimes the schoolroom is outside in the beautiful sunshine... or in my room with a cup of warm tea... sometimes it is on the kitchen table, with the sound of my family around me.

Sometimes we take a spontaneous field trip...sometimes life skills are our schooling.... but each new day comes and as they go, I am learning more and more, and cherishing each day as I embrace homeschooling.

I still have my Algebra, Chemistry, Literature, and all the studies that a student must receive. But I also get an experience. Homeschooling, to me, is a lifestyle, not just an education. It is taking all the studies one must learn, and learning them at home... living them at home.

 The time around my family, from eating meals together, figuring out English difficulties with my mom, to bike rides on beautiful afternoons, is one of the greatest blessings of being homeschooled.

I am often filled with joy as I sit down with my school books to read... either walking into the world of Corrie Ten Boom and the life that she lived during World War 2, or learning about the amazing design the Creator has filled the universe with as I study the molecules and atoms that make it up.

It is not just studying a textbook... it is embracing a journey.

Our schedule is structured, but centered around the verse which tells us that though man may plan his paths, the Lord establishes His steps...

{Proverbs 16:9}

Being homeschooled is one way that we as a family strive to apply the commands in Deuteronomy 6, to teach our children of the Lord, to talk of Him when we come in and go out, when we lie down and when we rise up... to have His words daily on our lips and in our lives.

Homeschooling is a gift... a gift which I cherish everyday

{yes, even those hard days when x doesn't equal y :)}

It is a journey...

A calling...

A joy...

Blessings,

Treasures Found in Homeschooling

Nothing beats homeschooling :]

I am daily thankful for the decision my parents made when I was in second grade, to take my sister and I out of a private school and homeschool us all the way through till graduation!  There were/are so many blessings associated with being homeschooled that it is hard to choose one thing that stands out in my memory as something that was unique to being homeschooled - something that your average kid would not have been able to do.

I guess I'll go with the memory of training alpacas :] 

I have to preface this story by saying that my sister and I were involved in 4-H animal husbandry as soon as we were able to join (8 years old).  We started out with horses and stayed with them until 2002 right after I turned 12. 

It was a beautiful New England fall day.  You know, the one where your just entering fall and the weather is still warm, but not stifling.  I want you to picture a true to form agricultural fair.  You can hear the cows mooing as their owners spraying them down, trying to clean them before Fitting & Show; you can hear the announcer down in the infield announcing the placing of the horse show, and you can hear the sheep and goats baahing, waiting for their little trainers to come and feed them. You can smell those fries that you can only find at the fair along with those jumbo donuts that only come around once a year.

So, you can hear & smell, but what can you see?  Well, there is the 4-H Ice Cream Parlor where there is always a long line of people waiting to get there frappes, sundaes or just a bowl of hard ice cream.  There are the buildings filled with crafts that people have worked on all year and of course there are all the concession buildings selling unique items. But the important thing that you see, is the red and white striped tent.  Inside of it is an obstacle course made up of jumps, hula hoops, weave poles, and a kiddie pool.  And going through the obstacle course are a couple girls ranging from 9-13 years old, leading their alpacas.  They willingly handed over the lead ropes to us to let us play with their animals.  We were hooked:]

That October we joined the Jumping Jax Alpaca Trax 4-H Club and leased our first two alpacas, Black Mirage and Ace Ventura.  These two boys that had been donated to the club with several other alpacas from a farm in Ohio.

That day at the fair was a turning point in our lives.  We have since had up to 12 alpacas, but our numbers have fluctuated over the years and we currently have 11.

However, I want to get back to the point of this post.  "What is one thing that we were able to do growing up as homeschoolers that most kids would not have been able to do?"

A month before we joined the  4-H club, our mom took us on a field trip (a plus for homeschooling) to a farm about 50 minutes away.  This farm had miniature donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, horses, dogs and guesss what...alpacas.  We hit it off with the owner and when she found out we were 4-Hers we clicked even more. (She had been a 4-Her and had raised her kids with 4-H).



A new born cria on the farm :]

 We visited the farm several times, as she had a fiber area where she gave classes on how to use the different fleeces.  One of the times we visited we got to talking about the different  training classes we had taken with our 4-H club on how to halter train, lead, and gain the alpacas trust.  She said that she had to train several crias (baby alpacas) every year to walk on a halter, stand still and allow people to touch them, so that she could bring them to the different breeders shows each season. 

~At this point I should mention that alpacas are VERY skittesh animals and it is not their natural instinct to ask for attention, but rather to run away from people.

With all the other things on the farm that kept her busy she didn't have the time to train them and would we be interested in training them?  We were shocked and honored!  The animals that she was asking us to train were the "cream of the crop" on her farm and would be representing her farm at the shows.

This is where it got exciting.  Because we were homeschooled  this was a terrific opportunity that we were able to take!  If we had gone to a public or private school we would never have been able to accept this offer.  We had to plan on two hours of travel time every time we went over and then at least 3 hours training and we had to be over at the farm a couple times a week. 

We learned so much about animal husbandry on this farm, as well as business management, and like anyone who spends time with animals, it gave us several opportunities to grow some character. 

We worked there for several years training each new year's crias and continuing to work as well with the previous years show animals.


Suri Crias - There are two different breeds of
alpacas. Suri fiber grows in long pencil locks.

 I usually worked with the Suri alpacas.  Something about them just drew me to them.  They were more skittish then the Huacayas, but once I gained their trust you could see a relationship building.  When we would bring them to the show, it would often times be their first time being away from their mom and because I was a familiar face and smell and my voice was familiar, they would cling to me.

God gave us so many opportunities at the shows to be a bright light for Him to so many people.  Because there were so few kids there, we were watched all the time and people would comment. 

We learned so much at the shows about the alpaca industry, the different businesses and yet there were so many little things we learned (although not little in the grand scheme) like responsibility, respect and using every opportunity to reflect Christ.

There were also the lessons that came with traveling, packing, and preparing for these shows.  We were taught how to be prepared for anything but to still be frugal.


Huacaya Crias - My sister trained these.
There fiber grows straight our like
a teddy bears :]


The life skills that we learned over the years would not have been learned if we had not been homeschooled.  The time needed to pursue these activities cannot usually be found with kids who attend a public or private school unless there parents actually own the farm or they live right next door to one.

We learned so very much in the 6 years that we did this and I am so thankful for the opportunity that we had and the lessons that we learned.  God is good.