Joshua and Katie Watkins of Reno always planned to homeschool their kids, Rosie and Cameron, even before they were born. They never entertained the thought of sending them to public school.

“We really appreciated that our parents took the time to do it for us (growing up),” Josh said. “We had such a positive experience. … We just wanted to recreate what we had experienced.”

For Cori Hennessey and her daughter, Wendy, having school at home was a necessity. Wendy, 9, has a severe peanut allergy. Any contact with peanut butter or oil would cause a bad reaction.

“We lived way out in the country and the only school out there didn’t have any peanut requirements,” Cori said. “And at 4 years old, she wanted to start school badly and (the school) didn’t want her in there until she was 5. So I started homeschooling her and we’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Whatever the reason for transforming a domicile into a classroom, parents have much to consider before choosing to educate their child in their own homes, whether that includes personal costs, regimens or a desire to help their student succeed. What they often don’t realize, at least at first, is how much they grow as instructors and parents and find that as families, they grow closer to each other.

Learning the ropes

One of the first things parents usually tackle in the beginning stages of homeschooling is finding out how to adapt their teaching so as to best engage their students and motivate them to get excited about learning.

The Watkins family has enjoyed an easy time of establishing school at home for Rosie, 11, and Cameron, 6. Katie, a wedding photo-grapher who owns her own business, Katie Watkins Photography, predominantly teaches the kids in their Reno house. Joshua is a profusionist who operates the open heart machine on patients during surgery. They yolk their strengths together as necessary and stick to their curriculum, Sonlight, to educate their kids.

“I started Rosie at 4 years old; she was ready,” Katie said. “I had nothing else to do and we’ve been doing it every since. … She does really well in her studies and is pretty independent. (Cameron) and I are one-on-one, learning to read. He’s in his first formal years. We’re learning the ropes.”

She said she and the kids stay consistent as possible, but with enough flexibility, something she learned early on as she fit into her role as both teacher and mother.

Decidedly, the best place to learn in the Watkins house is not the bedroom originally set up to be their homeschool classroom, but the kitchen table.

“That’s where life happens,” Katie said.

Mapping out a specific – or flexible – schedule and place is also unique to each family.

Cori said Wendy, who’s generally at a fourth grade level, needs a certain rigid schedule to keep her on track.

“If I keep it flexible, she decides, ‘I don’t have to do school,’ and that doesn’t work,” Cori said. “We usually get up and over breakfast we’ll discuss some American history or European or Asian history. We’ve started discussing life in the colonies.”

Wendy is a student in a two-bedroom apartment in Reno, in which Wendy works at a coffee table most of the time.

“I made a whole (bedroom) into a little schoolroom, but after eight months it got tossed out,” Cori said.

For the 9-year-old, math is usually first in the morning, followed by language arts, grammar, geography and more history and science, which can incorporate fun experiments like egg bounces, Wendy said.

Cori also tries to integrate real-life moments into her lessons to make the information relevant for Wendy, whose favorite subject is math. She teaches her daughter in an apartment, but using that as her classroom gives her a practical advantage not often afforded to students in public schools.

“We measure things in the kitchen,” Cori said, explaining that she and her daughter will use recipes as a way of teaching her fractions.

“It did seem pretty overwhelming (at first),” she said. “But I had a great support network.”

Personalizing

the knowledge

Soliciting the assistance of other homeschooling parents or co-ops is a proven strategy for parents who don’t always know just where to start, Cori and Katie said.

Cori had someone in the family to turn to when she needed advice.

“I have an aunt who’s a teacher and she was a big help with the whole nine yards, setting up the curriculum,” she said. “First, I went through a curriculum resource center on the Internet and they sent me the full curriculum. I figured out (Wendy’s) way ahead in this or on grade level with that, things like that. I kind of started putting it all together myself, depending on her interests, her background on the information and where she is and what grade level and what subject. That’s the beauty of homeschooling. You can have seventh grade reading and fourth grade math.”

With Rosie and Cameron, Katie said she wasn’t a very creative teacher when she began, so having the help of a curriculum that gave explicit instructions day by day was helpful to her.

“This one (Sonlight) is literature-based, not textbook-based and we’ve done it all of our years,” Katie said. “It’s very guided for us. I open the book and do what it says.”

Rosie, who’s an avid reader, is also beyond her grade level in certain areas.

“I like science, history and reading,” Rosie said. “This year I’m going through the Eastern hemisphere: Japan, China and Korea. And in science this year, there are experiments with your eyes, like if you cover one and try to catch a ball, it’s actually really hard.”

Katie said Rosie’s true grade level is hard to assess because there are no homeschooling tests in Nevada she could take to assess it, but would like to have Rosie take a California test.

“I can definitely tell the areas she struggles in,” Katie said. “It can be a little hard. You know they’re a little more advanced in some areas.”

For Cori, as helpful as she wants to be to Wendy, she also wants to instill a sense of independence and personal pride in her own educational journey.

“My mother-in-law puts it best,” Cori said. “She said in her time, they’d open your head and pour all the knowledge in and then they’d close it and shake it up. And the way I want (Wendy) to learn is to go seeking for the knowledge instead of having it poured into her head.”

Knowing where

to turn

To help avoid feelings of isolation, homeschooling families have plenty of local resources at their disposal to strengthen their child’s education. Most families join co-ops, which provide classes or activities taught by other parents for academic and social purposes.

Rosie and Cameron Watkins are part of Impact and Calvary Chapel co-ops with different age groups and different subjects being taught. Rosie said this year’s emphasis in one of the groups is art.

“We’ve made candles and gone to Apple Hill and lots of places,” she said. “It’s just nice to have friends there.”

Katie said she’s not teaching at this time, but as a photographer, she may decide to share her skills with the youngsters at a later time. In November, Katie gave birth to another daughter, Emma, and outside of teaching Rosie and Cameron, she’s been busy with her baby girl.

“It wasn’t the right time,” she said with a chuckle.

The Hennesseys go to a chemistry class on Thursdays at their co-op, which is an immense help to Cori, who has an English and poetry background. She said her husband, Wendy’s father, is more of a science and math man and is better suited to help Wendy in that capacity.

“I learn visually and they’re completely audio and kinesthetic,” Cori said. “That’s over my head.”

But parents like Cori’s husband very often do bring in a special expertise themselves.

Joshua, who also has a science background, helps his son and daughter with technical information that Katie feels better about handing over to him to explain.

“Rosie’s learning anatomy this year so he’s working with her on that,” Katie said. “Most of the time, I feel comfortable teaching, but some of the areas he’s stronger in or the math’s confusing.

“You don’t realize when you’re teaching the kids, you’re learning everything again right alongside of them,” she added.

Read Tuesday’s Tribune for the second part of this series on homeschooling.