TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
Livie Chinchilla decorating a pumpkin at the Legacy COOP Fall Festival.
Brixton Barr working on daily oral language curriculum.
Aslyn Jackson examining a bug with Isaiah Nuytten.
Paola, gives 30-minute lessons to second through eighth grade classes on Thursdays. In Mexico, she taught English, and here in the States, she teaches Spanish. The teaching staff are all qualified personnel who have many years of experience in either public or private schools. Although the COOP is an enrichment program, its goal is to be able to challenge students academically, and hiring experienced teachers is a priority. Stephanie Cooley, Director of Legacy COOP, notes, “We want to continue to offer homeschool enrichment and support for many years to come. With many families switching to homeschooling, we want to provide the support needed academically, socially, and spiritually. We want to be able to offer special needs services in the future as well. Another goal is to partner with private schools and organizations to have sports added to our program.” Academic flexibility and choice of pace and approach are just a few of the benefits of homeschooling. “I am so thankful for Legacy COOP for many reasons,” said Lacey Goff, a parent and member of the COOP. “Mostly because it has given my children a community of friends where they can have a peer learning experience even though we made the decision to homeschool. As a former public school educator, I know the value of being challenged academically and how valuable a social experience is among children, and this program has satisfied those needs for us.” Hope Aubrey, another Legacy parent, eagerly shared, “Legacy COOP has given me the opportunity as a mom to attain the best of both worlds when it comes to homeschool education and public school education. By attending Legacy two days a week,” she said, “My kids are able to create deep and wholesome friendships with peers that are also being raised by kingdom-minded parents. I love that Legacy offers an atmosphere that not only enriches their education and complements our schoolwork at home, but also encourages the students to place utmost importance on growing in their faith and sharing the good news of the gospel with others.”
Though our culture seems to be more on board with the idea of homeschooling, it is not a new concept. Learning at home has been a tried-and-true method of education throughout history. But as they say, “The proof is in the pudding,” and Pam and Larry Jones can reflect on their choice to homeschool their children, who are all now adults, and feel confident it was the right option. “We knew it would produce strong family bonds and amazing memories. We wanted a Christian education that the government would not provide. We knew we only had our kids for 18 years,” Larry shared, “and did not want to abrogate the responsibility of training to public schools.” A bonus for the Jones family was the added academic advantage. “If you could pick the optimal teacher-student ratio, it would be 1:1, not 30:1,” Larry continued. “That focus on individuality makes all the difference. It involves mastery learning. In a group setting, if you do not understand the lesson, you get a “C,” and you move on. You can’t hold the whole class up. Conversely, if you are strong in a subject, you cannot move ahead because you wait on the rest of the class. In our house, if you did not get it, you didn’t move on until you did. That might mean later hours or summer work, even though it hardly ever did. Homeschooling allows for the targeting of weak areas and customizing curriculum and the learning process.” Today as they look back at their homeschooling experience, the evidence proves success! All three of their children are now successful adults who all received free academic rides through college, earning two 4.0’s and a 3.9 GPA. They are all involved in ministry, love the Lord, and plan to homeschool their own children. A beautiful way to describe the current cultural shift and what it has meant to those families who have made the choice to homeschool was simply said by Hope Aubrey. “The year 2020 undoubtedly caused frustration and struggles in education all over the globe, but blooming in the cracks of the devastation are parents who became teachers. And blossoming right alongside is a generation of resilient, productive, and intelligent children who are ready to discover more about the world around them.”
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COMMUNITY & CULTURE
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