Homeschool Talk with HCS

From Charter Schooling to Private Homeschooling

• Heritage Christian School San Diego Vicki Stormoen • Season 6 • Episode 4

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Is there a difference between charter schooling and private homeschooling? Is not having public funds a big deal? Four HCS moms join Principal Vicki to discuss their life changing experience through this process and how HCS surprised them in ways they did not anticipate. 

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Texas Home School Talk with HCS, that Heritage Christian School in San Diego, the private Christian Home Education Improvement Program, or PSP, serving homeschooling families nature life since 1988. I am the show producer, Lilia Sapuzela. Now please welcome your host, who, by the way, is starting the 32nd and final year of her homeschooling journey, HCS Principal Vicki Stormen.

SPEAKER_05:

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Homeschool Talk with HCS. I am your host, Vicki Stormowen, and today I am joined by four other HCS moms, all of whom previously did charter schooling and then at some point made the switch to private homeschooling. We're going to talk about the primary reasons that led to that decision and discuss some of the obvious questions surrounding that decision. Okay, so let's start by just going around and introducing yourself. If you can just start by telling us your name, the number and grades of your kids, how long you've been homeschooling, how long you've been charter homeschooling, or how long you were charter homeschooling, and how long you've been privately homeschooling, and then how long you've been with HCS. And we'll just start with Beverly.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, hello. Well, I have three kids. Two of them have graduated already. All of them were homeschooled in some way or another. I actually started 16 years ago when my oldest was in fourth grade. She was in private school. They had some disabilities and behavior issues. I remember how it felt when a teacher told me that they were gonna give my daughter whatever she wanted so other kids could learn. And that was the moment I decided I was going to homeschool. And it was a whole new thing for me. I had no idea how I was gonna do it, that I was gonna do it. So I got out of the Navy, started homeschooling. And the good thing is, is my son was starting school that year, so I started both of them at the same time. Um and then it was in middle school for my young for my middle boy, who um I started charter then. So three years we chartered, and then we returned to private homeschooling after that. And then we enjoyed heritage five years ago, and yeah, that's our journey so far.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, great. And Darla? Hi, my name is Darla. My kids went to a charter public school. There, my oldest daughter was getting bullied for years at that school, um, and then there's no help from the staff or principal. And when she was eight years old, I ended up um pulling her out of that school and started privately homeschooling for about a year. That was in 2013. Okay, I didn't reclaim my kids. I have a 20-year-old who graduated a ninth grader, a sixth grader, and a second grader as well. So we homeschooled for a year privately, and then we ended up starting with a charter homeschool program. And we did that for about seven years, and then we ended up coming to periods after that.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, and Stacy. Hi, my name is Stacy. I have forged four kids, two adults, 26 and 28, and then my two boys that are 13 and 15, so an eighth grader and a high school sophomore. Um, we started out public schooling. Um, and then when COVID happened, we switched over to a charter school, um, charter homeschool. And um, we were with them. Well, we did two different charter homeschools. So we did charter homeschooling for three years, and then I found Heritage, so we moved over to Heritage. So we've been with Heritage now for three years. I did pull my to pull him out. My son begged me to do this um sports academy that they trained for baseball. He's a huge baseball player, and they trained for two and a half hours in the morning, and then um they did their academics in the afternoon. So we did that at the beginning of the school year. So I took him out of HCS and put him there, and it lasted a whole seven weeks, and he was begging me to go back to Heritage. So um that's pretty much our experience. So now we are back at Heritage. We are not leaving again, I promise. We learned our lesson. Um, so that's not a story.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, that's great. We'll talk about more about that probably here in a minute.

SPEAKER_00:

And then um finally, Jimena. Hi, I'm Jimena. I have two kids. Uh, one graduated in 2023, and I have one who is a senior at HCS. And our homeschool journey uh they they started um in public school, and my daughter uh also was just not doing well with the big group. She had an IEP and was also getting bullied. Um, really, I really felt anyway like I had to um school them myself, and I wanted to disciple them myself. And so I pulled my daughter out when she was in fourth grade, and then my son the following year. And so um we went to a charter school and we were there for eight years, and then I homeschooled privately for a year, and then we ended up with HCS. Um so I've been a member of HES for um two years.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, great. Again, thank you, ladies, for taking time out of your day and joining us and talking about um your experience and and kind of the different ways that you've homeschooled and how you landed here. Some of you touched on this briefly in your introductions, but if we can just go back to and really hone in on what made you decide to leave the charter setting and homeschool privately? And let's just go in the same order that we did at the beginning. So uh first Beverly.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Well, my son was a struggling learner. He's my middle child. Struggling learner. I'm just really with writing and reading. And I was hoping the charter school would give me um a lot more academic support. Uh honestly, I was thinking that I wasn't doing a good enough job. So I enrolled us into a charter school. And we used the charter school all the way through middle school for him. And there was a couple of reasons we decided not to. Firstly, they weren't giving us the academic support that I thought I would get. It wasn't that they weren't willing. I just I expected something different than it was. And I realized that I made a mistake making that choice, that I wasn't capable of teaching him to begin with. Um until this point, we also had the freedom to continue choosing the curriculum we wanted. Um, and they were getting really tight on the regulations after our third year, and we no longer were gonna have that freedom. And part of the reason I chose to homeschool was to have the freedom to teach my kids what I believed was the best for their education. And so the second that was no longer an option, I decided to return to private homeschooling.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, great. And Darla?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so I have a couple reasons when we were leaving the Carter Homeschool program. I mean, we were in the program for a reason. The fund, you know, helped pay for extracurricular activities. But one of the reasons why I even doing that originally was for friendships for my kids, um, which we really didn't make any during that time, seven years with um the charter school, so that was really hard for my kids. But another reason was because we were using math machines, a math curriculum, which really worked well with all my kids. And at one point they told me that we would have to switch to an online math curriculum. And even though I was very reluctant, we did make the choice and tried that, but it did not go well, and it was really hard for my kids, and they were in tears every day doing math. So I ended up telling the children's not working for my family, we're going back to what we know and what they do well. And they really gave me a hard time about that. So it was constantly brought up and uh turned down. But the other reason was because my oldest at the time was going into middle school, and at the time they uh were basically had switched to this online, all online middle school programs. They wanted her to be taught online. The freedom would be no longer mine as far as what she's been taught. And the more I did research in the actual first month, I looked into just history by itself, and I saw a lot of hostility towards Christianity. There's a lot of red flags that I saw, and that's when I knew, okay, this is not going our way anymore. This is not in our favor to keep going with the charter school. And that's the time that we pulled out. We went back to private homeschooling at that time.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you for sharing that. And Stacy? Um, I to sum it up in one word, like everyone else said, I think it would be the freedom. We have so much more freedom with heritage than we ever did in the charter school. Mostly for me, it was the curriculum. I wanted to choose my own curriculum with our worldview in mind, which is obviously a Christian worldview, biblical from the Bible. That wasn't gonna happen there. They said we could use the Christian curriculum, but we couldn't use funds, but we could turn in like stuff as long as we white it out. And I just didn't feel right doing that. I felt like that was just shady. I was like, the other reason we left is because they weren't making any friends. They said, Oh, we have all these activities and extracurriculars and all that. The only way we did that was going to um an enrichment center for lack of a better word. But every time we went on a field trip with them or any of the, it was different kids. So kids could never make relationships with the same kids because there was always different kids, and always felt like my boys were the oldest, and they just didn't really fit in there. So I think that was the reason we were looking for families that shared our worldview, um, that we could feel comfortable not having to, you know, watch what we say or bite our tongue because we all know that we're all on the same page here. We're all trying to, you know, educate our children the best way, and we're all doing it the same way, obviously. And then I guess with the charter school, we felt like it was public school at home. We were on their schedule. We had to meet every month. I was working full-time at the time, so I'd have to find a time to meet the ES on-site. The quarterly testing, don't even get me started on that. I felt like that was just a waste of time, and my boys hated every minute of it. I guess those were my main, my main reasons why we chose to leave. And then the second time around, the main reason was the academic portion was all online. It was also that my son already had learned. So I felt like he wasn't learning anything, he was just going backwards. But he it was a bunch of busy work, so he was constantly doing school and then he was missing his baseball practice at night because he was so tired. It just wasn't working for us. So I just like the freedom and being able to be on our own.

SPEAKER_05:

So I'm definitely hearing a theme here. Freedom in the curriculum selection. We haven't even gotten to a minute yet. But I also love that you brought up community because I mean, okay, I might be a little bit biased here, but that is one area that we do excel in this kind of setting is that it is a community. And like you have the same people that you're doing all these different activities and sports and clubs with and classes. And yeah, I I could talk all day about community at HCS just from the 32 years that I've been here, but I'm really glad that you brought that up.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the first year was his sixth grade year, and it was so he loved going to sixth grade camp, and he made so many new friends at all the different sixth grade events and things that they did, and he's still friends with some of those kids, even though they don't see each other all the time. We went to the Sea World Field Trip, they acted like they knew each other, you know, that they've been friends all this time. So they don't forget. That's very cool.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that's been great.

SPEAKER_03:

Very cool.

SPEAKER_05:

All right, Hamina. Sorry, I kind of jumped in there before Hamina. Go ahead, Homina.

SPEAKER_00:

They had allowed me to choose the curriculum of my choice until you know laws and regulations change in California. And then when my daughter was in high school, all of a sudden I found myself having to like create these assignments that were just not related to what I was doing that had been approved by the school in order to meet the state standards. We're doing like ancient history, but they need me to do an assignment on US history because it meets the state standard for ninth grade or whatever. It was just started at the beginning. I was like kind of pushing it, like, okay, let's just do this, let's just do the quick one. But then then things changed, like things changed every year for my daughter. Like it was like ninth grade was okay, then tenth grade was like, oh, a little bit more strict. And then, and then all of a sudden it was like, oh no, you have to do these assignments. And now they're gonna be graded, not by you, but by a teacher here. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So then uh I pulled her out like half year. My ES was actually relieved because I think she was stressed out too. That we were both we were both like trying to make it work and it just wasn't working. She was just like, oh my gosh, just just pull her, like just do your thing. And so it was really great after that. It kind of destroyed all my homeschool dreams, you know, like everything that we had been doing, which worked, quote unquote. But then having experienced private homeschooling, it was just a game changer.

SPEAKER_05:

So this next question, I don't know, maybe kind of redundant. I think you've all answered it, but if if there's anything else you want to add to this, now is your moment. But what are some of the main differences you've seen between schooling through a charter and homeschooling privately? And I think across the board you're all gonna say freedom and the ability to choose. So if there's anything else that you want to add to that, go ahead and add to that. Otherwise, we're gonna go with that. But it looks like Kimetta does have something she wants to say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the parent-led aspect is so important because we used to do that as a co-op. Even you know, going through a charter, we basically kind of ignored a lot of the things and we did our own thing because I mean that's what homeschooling should be, right? And so I love that in programs like HCS that we can come together as parents and lead clubs and lead sports and activities. And so it's just like this collaboration that fosters community, but also we're all like-minded as a whole, you know, our goal is the same. And so I think that makes it really special. Whereas charter schools, some might offer field trips and all that stuff, but you don't really have a say in what they offer, or you can't even say, like, oh, I want to start this club. It just doesn't, doesn't work that way.

SPEAKER_05:

Then we are gonna move on to the next question. You know, you all kind of had a different route that got you to HDS, and now you're all in HDS, but what made you decide to homeschool through Heritage Christian School?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh yeah, as well on Bev, I got quite the journey actually, because when I first wanted to step out of my own home in private homeschooling, get my kids like in relationships with other homeschoolers and activities and groups and things, I it was really hard to find a place for them to do that that wasn't public. So I did find a homeschool learning center, but it was all the way up in uh North County. And so it was a one-hour drive for us two days a week. Um we did that for six years. Um, I'm a pretty committed person. I don't, I don't back out of things very easily. So I probably stayed with them longer than we should have. And we did build some good relationships, but they weren't my kids weren't able to connect with them during the week. They weren't able to do things with them. Field trips were out of the question, and so it was class time only. And so while we got the support academically, they got to do fun things like woodworking and chess club and work on cars and stuff like that. It was a lot of fun, but it was missing another component. And so we are actually had a friend who attended with us that eventually left and went to Heritage and they connected and they said, Hey, you should go to Heritage. Now I'm gonna tell you, um, I had already heard of Heritage and had opted out of going to Heritage because it was a co-op. And I'm like, uh no, co-ops are not good enough for my kids. Okay, that the teachers aren't gonna put as much into it. It's just gonna be like arts and crafts and stuff. So I had this idea in my head for many years, and uh my friend convinced me that I was wrong, and I trusted her, and I came to Heritage. Another reason for that, too, is the sports, like the fact that Danica could try out for volleyball and play and have fun and do something that we could not do in the secular community because we have personally opted out of vaccinating, and in California, that means that all sports are out of the question. And so we made the move to heritage five years ago, and I'm I'm just gonna tell you what homeschool parents are the second to a parent to pour into your kids, right? They're the best teachers for our kids. I'm not doing it alone anymore. I'm in relationships with other homeschool schooling moms myself. When I feel I'm struggling to get through it, I've got somebody there that could to help me and also to help them. I wish that I had made the choice to go to Heritage when my kids were brand new into homeschooling.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, we are very happy that you eventually made that choice, and um, it's been great having your family with us. So thank you for that, for that testimony. Darla?

SPEAKER_02:

For our family, um, when we were with the charter uh homeschool program, after we left there and we did private homeschooling again. I mean, we were really on our own again, and I we had friendships that had moved away. We were in desperate need of community ourselves, me included. I felt like I could not keep doing this with no support. And so a friend of mine who is a retired homeschooled mom told me about heritage, and she said, Yeah, I really think you should look into this. And so um, he had gone to heritage with her kids for years, and so I did, and I have to say, our lives have been radically changed. I think that heritage has only brought us community and and super sweet meetings. I don't think we would would have found it anywhere else. We have like-minded families at heritage. Obviously, our church and values are alike, and I do believe that every sport, every expert cooperative activity that they're in, I believe that all of our parents, you know, coaches, we're all pouring into our kids. And and that's we we can't find that anywhere else, in my opinion, even at a Christian school, to be honest. I I just believe because we're all parents and we're all in it for the same reason, our hearts are in it. So our kids are thriving in it, we're thriving it. I feel like our three such good friendships are here with uh moms and dads. And my kids writer forever too. I mean, they're in drama, choir, basketball, volleyball now. You know, every year it seems like we're adding a new thing on on our plate, but it's good. And I see the results are really well. I'm telling you, my kids are definitely thriving and we were not like that before. Yes, we had the freedom to use our own circles before too, but uh heritage, let's just say co-op, it's a hundred percent better than doing it alone. So now we have real friendships and community, um, I can actually see how homeschooling is gonna go in high school. You know, my older one now in high school, so in my three. I just feel like I have so much support that I can I can actually do this before. I didn't feel like I could. Maybe I I can't, you know. And so now I I would never leave heritage with dinner four years, and I feel like it was literally just like the other day that we signed up. And I feel like we've met some of the most wonderful families, and I do believe heritage is one big family.

SPEAKER_05:

Um here, here, I agree. Ditto all that. Stacey.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, well, in addition to all that, I'm not gonna repeat, but basically the same reasons. One of the main reasons is because you did have the on-site we did the academy the first year that we homeschooled with heritage because I was working full-time and it was just impossible for me to try to get it all done with the boys. And they were able to take a class together. They took science and history together, so their ages have just worked out perfectly. Now that one's in high school and one's in middle, it's a little different. But I'm more available now than I was back then, so it's we've been doing it at home. But I do want to start doing class days now that I can go. I didn't, I've been wanting to do them, but um, because you have to be on with them, I couldn't drop off. So I'm happy now that I'm gonna start doing that, hopefully this next semester, if I can get in, if not next year. But that was the other thing is we wanted some on-site opportunities for them. The other reason we love Heritage is all the resources that you have. I mean, if you have a question on homeschooling, it just their website is full of information. The um, the podcast that you do, the annual conference. I was terrified to homeschool my high schooler and I went to that conference. It was before his ninth grade year, but I swear I left there feeling so relieved. I was like, what am I gonna do? I don't know how to do this. So yeah, I think that was it for me, just all the resources. It was a no-brainer. I was looking at heritage for probably a year, and then I ran into a friend of mine that has been with Heritage for years. It was a God moment because I'm like, I haven't seen her in years, and all of a sudden she's like, Oh, where do you do where your kids go to school? And small talk. And she said heritage, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I've been looking at that school for like a year now, and I think I called you guys the next week. That was it. Once I talked to you and Jane, it was like, Oh yeah, this is our school. Yeah, we're very happy there.

SPEAKER_05:

So far, it's a theme of a friend, so it's like heritage, tell a friend.

SPEAKER_03:

Right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_05:

Word of mouth. So, Homena, I know you a little bit different. You were in the homeschool community for a long time and very well connected. How did you end up at Heritage, or how did you find us, or what made you decide to homeschool through Heritage?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, like I've mentioned, um, we had a really strong co-op with like 12 kids, and we're all best friends. I just met with my co-op, I still call it the call them the co-op moms yesterday for coffee for coffee. Um, and they all just kind of took different routes. You know, life has different paths, and even though I really thought we were all gonna homeschool forever together until they all graduated, it didn't pan out that way. And so my son's best friends, which are three of the boys in the co-op, all went to a private school. It just kind of left us alone. And all of a sudden my daughter had graduated, and it was just like my son and I, and we were just like, What? This is not gonna work. And so we were both not happy, it was just not not working out. And I met a friend that I led worship with at Benita Valley, and it turns out she homeschools, she's got a ton of kids, and so we were talking and connecting, and there was there were a lot of things in common that we had, including family members and things like that. And um, and then she told me about heritage, and I like Beverly had been eyeing it because I was desperately trying to look for a community or some sort of program for my son. I knew I wasn't gonna go back to charter, and I just was like, how do I do this well? Like we like we've been doing it, you know, for for so many years. I just was confused. I thought Heritage was just like a co-op. Again, I was like, I don't know that I want to like do all that right now, you know, like start again, and and again, I was like, that's not gonna be enough for him. So this friend told me about Heritage, and I went to an open house for academy. You know, my son was reluctant at first, but it started, it worked, it worked well for us. And so I wasn't an HCS member the first year because I know there was an option to just have your own PSA and just take academy classes. But the year after you guys took that uh option away. I'm glad you did because then it was like guess what, son, you have no option. And so it was like, if I'm gonna pay tuition, I would like you to try these clubs. And of course, you know, him going into 10th grade, that meant well, actually 11th grade is when we joined Heritage as as members that you know, if he wanted to go to a four-year college, that means he had to get some activities on his resume. And so we started with volleyball. We went to the back to school rally, and I was really excited at the back to school rally because I was like, wow, okay, this is this is big, you know. I I didn't really know that first year. I would just drop him off at Academy and leave. I had no idea everything that heritage was. And I was just really very pleasantly surprised and just so blessed. He is in drama, he's in volleyball, he's in choir, and it's just been so great to uh have a community and have people like you know, like Vicky. That's another thing. Is I've been homeschooling for 12 years, but Vicky's been homeschooling for 32 years. So to have, you know, people that have done it before you, this is my last and my first going to university. So I'm like calling Jane all the time, like, uh, I need I don't know what I'm doing. So it's just really great. It's really great to be surrounded by such knowledgeable moms and passionate moms. Um, I actually brought one of those co-op moms to HCS, and now she's there with her kids, and they're thriving, and it's been great. One of them graduated last year, and like we were able to drive up to the tournament this weekend and share a hotel room. So it's kind of like old times, you know, but under a different umbrella, which is great. So it's it's just been wonderful for them.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, great. Thanks for all that. I just love hearing you guys all talk about just how you got here, which it's all through a friend, by the way, just in case you're just that little nugget. I guess we should all be talking about heritage to our friends, but just your experience here. It's been really great to hear that. But switching gears for a minute to charter school again, the biggest draw to charters is the funding. We don't give you money when you come to heritage. And when you privately homeschool, no one is giving you money. So how has the loss of public funds changed the way you homeschool, or has it changed the way you homeschooled? And what have you had to give up, if anything? And do you have anything or anything you want to share about maybe some ways that you have compensated for the lack of public funds in your homeschooling?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm Bev, and that is a handful of questions to wrap my mind around, honestly. I definitely missed the funding for the specialized classes that were more expensive. But as I continued with heritage, I found that the cost I was paying out of pocket before I started with charter to now actually reduce. So I just have to be more intentional. We do fundraisers, we save. I'm just really thoughtful about every choice we make financially, which is good stewardship of our finances. And we have to practice that. We have to teach our kids to practice that. So it's been balancing out for us. Oh, but there are some things that we have to say no to because we can't have everything we want in life. And so, you know, it's an opportunity to teach the kids that we have to make decisions for what is a priority for us. We want to do A, B, C, and D, but we can only do C and D if that's what you really want over A and B. Um, just making those choices and letting the kids be a part of those choices so that they know that their education is theirs, their clubs are theirs, but it's still real life. We can't have everything we want. When deciding to go for that funding or having to find a way to do these things with your own funding, you have to ask yourself what is the flip side? You're going to make sacrifices either way, whether you go with private homeschooling or a charter school, and you just have to decide what are those sacrifices, know them ahead of time, and decide what you want for your family because otherwise you're going to end up unhappy with the choices you make.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, this darling. I agree with Bev on that one too. For us, I mean the handoff is I would never hand it back out. I would never trade back with what we had. Even hearing people talk about the funds they get, they can use it on different things. I'm just like, it doesn't even relate to what we have got from heritage, to be honest. And yes, we do have to make decisions. I do teach my kids, well, which sports you really want to use or what you don't take on other things that we can't afford. And so there are things that they have to understand. But we're not going to do all of the things. You know, we may do a lot of the things, but we're not going to do all of them because we can't afford them. You know, one of the things that I want to do instill in my kids is to also give back to help other people, not just we're not confused with ourselves all the time. What do I want to do all the time? And so it it gives us leeway to still do outreach and things like that as a family. If we were doing everything, we we would be confused with ourselves. So we don't do that on purpose. But I really think that the fun of the charter, it just does not compare to what you get with communities at heritage at all. And so to me, it's like it doesn't even relate values and in my opinion anymore. Some people have a hard time with deciding to go to, let's say, heritage or co-op, where they have to put in their time or effort for their kids, right? I feel like it's a whole different world. And they don't realize what they're actually missing. So by partaking in all those things that we do, it's really changed my life. And I think it's changed the kids' life too for the better. And so I I don't think it compares at all.

SPEAKER_04:

You can't put a price on that.

SPEAKER_05:

Not at all. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Uh Stacy?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I would just add too, like anytime you get government funding or anything, is it really free? We're held to we have to teach what they want us to teach our kids. So to me, I did not use the funding for um curriculum because I wanted a Christian curriculum. But then it was silly because I'd have to go like to teacher pay teacher to print out a worksheet to turn into the ES, which was silly to me. But we used it for piano lessons and then later guitar lessons. And so I mean, I don't miss the funding because like Beverly and Darla, we just prioritize. So the boys still want to continue guitar lessons, so we do that, but we don't do piano. They were getting bored with it anyway. So we still they still do their guitar lessons, and then we would do like Zoom membership and SeaWorld and all that with the charter school, but they're over that anyway. We've gone to SeaWorld so many times. So we don't miss, I honestly I don't miss it. And like you said, you can't put a price on what we were getting at the time with our kids. I'm like, I only have a few more years left, and they're gonna be graduating, they're gonna be adults. I want to spend every minute with them. And you know, if I think about it, when they were in public school, I felt like every time I turned around, I don't know if any of you had public school, like at this actual public school, but every time I turned around, we were spending money and and then school clothes, like backpacks. I mean, I'm saving so much money on not having to, you know, we still buy them clothes, obviously, but we don't need to have all the the name brand things that all the other kids have and all the cool stuff, you know, where they don't care if we go to Coles and buy them a pair of pants, you know, they're fine with that. I just feel like it's just we're saving a lot of money by being home, homeschooling them, especially with all the inexpensive filters that Heritage offers. Some of them are free, or I don't feel like we're missing the funds at all, honestly.

SPEAKER_05:

That's helpful for me to hear because I've never done the charter route. I've so I've never had that public funding. So I was really curious what you were all gonna say about that. So that was very helpful.

SPEAKER_00:

Jimena, do you have anything you want to add? Even charter schools with the resources they offer, it it doesn't even compare to what HCS offers. So like I was never able to do sports at the charter school. We could like pay for our own PE, but they're not part of a team. So yeah, not the same thing. Um, I thought I was gonna miss the funds. I thought I was gonna miss like, oh, the Belleville Park Pass and all that, like you said, the zero, but it really doesn't compare to the freedom. But also the Lord provides, and I did not think ever that I'd be able to pay for anything. And then I got two jobs this last year, and I was like, Oh, okay, well, there you go. Now I can pay for some stuff. So praise God. As homeschool moms and stay-at-home moms for some of us that that don't work outside of the home, we've just had to live by faith anyway. So it's really just one extra step um of something we've already been doing our whole lives when we decided to raise our kids.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, thank you for that. That's a whole new world for me. So that was really helpful to hear your thoughts on that. So I guess my final question: if you were to give advice to someone who's on the fence right now deciding between public and private homeschooling, what advice would you give that person?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh man. Um, this Bev again. And I will say, first of all, I prayed every single night when I went to bed, not just for the ability to continue homeschooling the next day, but for the drive too, because sometimes it's tiring. I was exhausted and I felt overwhelmed. And I'm like, what am I doing? Because homeschool is not easy. I definitely didn't choose to homeschool for the easier route, but I, you know, leaned on the Lord to help me one day at a time. And somehow each day I had a new piece about it. And then found support. Instead of homeschooling by myself, I homeschool in a community of people who are wanting to build the kingdom of God with our kids. You know, they're the next generation and we want to equip them. I can't speak highly enough about the people who are helping me educate my children. So not doing it alone. Hey, this is our list.

SPEAKER_02:

I would just ask, do you want a lasting community surrounding you and your family? You want Christian community and Christian support for as parents. That is what heritage is for our family. We can't get it anywhere else. And we welcome you because it is 8 p.m. all the way.

SPEAKER_05:

I didn't even pay her to say that. Stacey.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, my first piece of advice is for just pray about it. And that's what I did like every day, every night. I was just like, I want to do the right thing, I want to do what God wants us to do as parents. And um, so that was my biggest factor is doing what was right in God's eyes. And then some of the questions I would really think about how much control you want over your child's education. That was a big one for me. I wanted to know exactly what they were learning. That was the hard thing when my son went to that school, was um, it was all online at the beginning of this school year. Every day I was on his Chromebook looking at what he's doing. He's like, Mom, get off my Chromebook. I'm like, I don't know what you're learning. And then losing that control was really hard for me. And then also the amount of support you want, like everyone else said, I wasn't getting any support at a charter school other than, okay, this is these samples are due then. And I feel like at Heritage, we have, even though I haven't talked to some of the moms I've met in months, I could feel totally comfortable calling them today and saying, hey, I have this problem, or hey, you want to get together for coffee. I mean, I don't haven't been able to do as much heritage stuff as I wanted to just because of where I was at life. But I'm hoping to get more involved in class day and stuff like that, so I can meet more moms and my kids could make more friends because that that's partly our fault. We're all introverts and we're all shy. So it's like hard for us to get out there. But I know I when I do, I always feel comfortable with heritage and the moms that I meet. So I would say that how much support do you want? Also, and one thing that I don't think we touched on was your kids' grade levels. It a charter school, you're limited to whatever grade they have them in, I believe. Like, so if they're in sixth grade, that they have to do sixth grade curriculum. In my son's case, he's in eighth grade, but he's already doing algebra. He would have been doing, you know, eighth grade math or whatever they do in eighth grade pre-algebra, whatever, where he's so far advanced, I can be able to move him forward. So that's one thing I would ask a charter school is if that's a possibility. And vice versa. If I had my oldest son is a little delayed in math, so he's catching up and he would be so behind if he was in a charter school, I think. So I think you just have more flexibility, I guess, with the level of education that you're able to, you know, you can adjust it to their needs because they're all different.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, thank you for that. And Amina? Yeah, I would I would say to really hone in on your why. Like, what is your vision for homeschooling and why did you decide to homeschool? If you're in a charter, is that charter serving your homeschool vision and is it supporting your why? And if you private homeschooling, will that support your why, which is most likely yes, because you have the freedom to do anything. So like then your why might be supported. But a lot of the times if we homeschool out of fear because we just don't, we just want to keep them home because we don't want them to be in school shootings or bad influences, then that might scare it, might scare you to private homeschool. But if your why is to like, I want to be the one to pour into my child, then private school is the way to go. And surrounding yourself with community, which is super important when you're homeschooling in a program like Heritage where you have children like moms or clubs, then I would say that is something to consider if your why is that you want to be the one to uh form and shape your child's character.

SPEAKER_05:

Definitely important to have a why for homeschooling, because as one of you mentioned, I think Beverly, um, this isn't the easiest route, but it's definitely the most rewarding route and will give you the flexibility and the freedom to support whatever why you have driving you to make this decision. Well, thank you so much, ladies, for joining us today and sharing your stories. There are many families every year that wrestle through the various schooling options for their kids, and discussions like these hopefully will help others as they think through their options. You've been very helpful and very open, and I just really appreciate all of you so much for joining us today. Thank you. And now for Heritage Happenings. November brings some new events and clubs to the HCS calendar, so be sure to keep up with the newsletter and the wags that are posted on band each Sunday night. The annual Veterans Day concert is happening on Tuesday, November 11th at 6:30 p.m. at Bonita Valley. This concert features all three bands, plus the string ensemble, plus all three choirs. You will not want to miss this. You can see all the relevant details on the website, the newsletter, and on band. Tickets are on sale for the upcoming Choir Christmas Cafe on December 12th. This event has limited seating, and I will just tell you right now, it will sell out. Tickets will sell out. So be sure to get your tickets sooner rather than later. It includes a beautiful sit-down dinner, beverages, dessert, raffles, a silent auction, as well as some lovely music throughout the whole evening. All proceeds go toward the spring choir tour that is happening in April. Drama kicks off their season this month with a Zoom meeting. This Zoom meeting is required for all new club or crew members, and it is also suggested for returning members, but it is required if you are new to the club. That is happening on Thursday, November 13th at 6:30 p.m. Be looking for the link to sign up for auditions to our full-length production of Mary Poppins the very next day. So that link is coming out on November 14th at 8 a.m. See all the details for the audition process on HSL. Our newest club, Turning Point USA, kicks off this month as well. Keep up to date with the pertinent details and dates on HSL. And then there's basketball, which kicks off this month with their three-day camp happening the 18th through the 20th, and you can find all those details on the basketball page on HSL. In addition to all that, all the other clubs that are already up and running, along with senior events, sixth grade events, academies, co-op class days, and field trips all have their dates and information on the school calendar, on the website, and on HSL. So be sure you have all the dates in your calendar that are relevant to you. As we head into the holiday season, I do want to remind everyone, this is my annual reminder, of the freedom that you have in private homeschooling, which we just talked a lot about. And you have a lot of freedom overall in all sorts of areas, but in particular, I just want to hone in for these upcoming weeks the freedom you have in determining the schedule and pacing of your overall school calendar. The holidays bring with it wonderful family time and the making of and keeping up with family traditions and memories. Use the freedom of setting your own calendar to make the most of these upcoming holiday weeks. If you've outsourced things, you're obviously going to need to keep up with that. But for anything else that you're doing at home, think about scaling back or slowing down and enjoy creating some quality time together as a family. Those are the things your kids are going to remember when this is all said and done. You have plenty of time to make up any missing school days. Remember, you have 365 days to get through about 180 days of school. Create a schedule that works for you. You have the freedom to do so, so do so. Well, that's it for today. As always, just keep going and remember your purpose.