Last spring, as Ian completed his requirements for 4th grade, we knew we would soon have to make some major decisions about the future of his education. Our county begins middle school in 5th grade, rather than 6th grade, and we were not feeling settled with continuing in public school. Additionally, more opportunities were presenting themselves for mushing, which would require more school absences than the Putnam County Board of Education permits. The obvious solution to this dilemma would be to homeschool, but how could that be possible when I work full time?

We began the process of exploring all options available to us, and we learned so much about the amazing community we live in. There are some wonderful private school options in our area, but they would not solve the attendance issue we were looking at. A hybrid school that met for in person classes two days a week presented a closer fit, but we would still be dealing with a lot of absences in the winter. My West Tennessee best friend shared her experiences of homeschooling while working full time, and helped me begin to have hope that maybe I could actually make this goal happen. During my research, I read about moms who struggle with homeschooling because their extended families don’t see the value in such an education. My family had the opposite reaction and they enthusiastically endorsed my plan and offered to help in every way to ensure academic success for Ian. To be honest, I don’t think that any of this could have come together without the help of both of my parents who prioritize Ian’s learning significantly.

The first step in our homeschool journey was to select an umbrella program to enroll Ian so that he would be able to continue building a transcript and later be eligible for a high school diploma and college entry. The next step was to select curriculum. And I agonized over this step. I poured through all the catalogs a coworker (and former homeschool mom) brought to me, and struggled to find the Goldilocks fit that would be “just right” for Ian. The West TN bestie came through again and picked me up as she drove past Cookeville on her way to Pigeon Forge to attend the annual homeschool convention. I was able to peruse the wares of hundreds of vendors selling homeschool curriculum. My favorite booth had very little set up in the way of signage, but there was a small battery powered car attached to a string driving in circles around a weighted center post. When I stopped, the kind lady asked if I had any questions she could help me with. My first words were: “I need to know what this is.” Exploration Education was the first homeschool material that I purchased for Ian and he has loved this physical science course more than any of his other subjects this year.

My day with Kathryn helped me select math and science, but I still struggled to find a language arts and social studies curriculum that I felt would suit Ian’s current needs. He tried Night Zookeeper but felt that it was too “young” for him, and I had some reservations about Khan Academy. Many of the curriculums I’d looked at in Pigeon Forge were heavy on worksheets, a teaching style that hadn’t been working for Ian in public school. Then I stumbled across the Good and the Beautiful. The author of this program employees a Charlotte Mason approach, which means that she believes in combining learning. Multiple subjects are intertwined together for a comprehensive learning experience. Each unit is set up to learn about the culture and geography of a different country. All of the reading and grammar lessons focus on those countries. The images for each unit display art from those countries. Each unit also included a reading lesson on preparing a grocery list, then the student follows a recipe to make a food native to that country! TGATB provides a free download for each level of the language arts courses, so I was able to review the entire course before committing to buy it. Finally I had the rest of Ian’s curriculum purchased!

Now that we had decided on curriculum, I had to figure out how all this learning was going to take place. I began looking at my schedule, trying to decide how to best use evenings and weekends for Ian’s school hours, then he made a very small request: “Could you just be my mom instead of my teacher?”

My dad stepped in to save the day at this point. He told me to find tutors for Ian. He was ready to provide the financial support needed to allow for a truly individualized learning program where Ian could thrive. So I reached out to the Dean of the College of Education at my university with what I thought was a crazy request. I explained to Dr. Baker that we were going to try to “home” school Ian by hiring tutors to teach him his coursework, and asked if she could provide any advice on college students who might be interested in helping Ian. Dr. Baker immediately responded that she had the perfect student in mind, and by the end of the week had confirmed that the young lady was available and willing to help Ian.

4th grade ended on May 26 and by June 5th Ian was ready to start 5th grade. We had met with Rebekah and developed a plan for her to tutor Ian three days a week in language arts and social studies. His math was a self paced online program, and Ian figured out his science course in about 10 minutes and determined that he could work through it on his own just fine using the online materials to listen to the audio lecture while following along in his lab book. Now we had to determine our calendar for the school year. This is when Ian hit me with another request that caught me off guard. He wanted to skip a grade.

Immediately following the pandemic, our governor decided that the annual state exams (TCAP) would determine if 3rd graders would be promoted to 4th grade, or retained in 3rd grade. Ian’s testing period coincided with Balto having back to back obstruction surgeries, and Brinn having emergency surgery due to a post-operative infection. Needless to say, Ian bombed the testing period. The school was not at all supportive towards our request to retest and didn’t offer us any other options. Ian was forced to repeat the entire year. I did not realize how upsetting the entire process of repeating 3rd grade was for Ian, so I felt like a terrible mother when he asked me if he could get back to the grade level he should have been. So Ian and I made a deal: 3 grade levels in 2 years. This was going to mean year round schooling for two years.

Here we are, a year later and Ian’s thriving in his customized educational plan. We’ve found some exciting new opportunities for music that he’s enjoyed, and he has exceeded his goals of working ahead to complete 3 grade levels in 2 years. Ian finished 5th grade math in January and started right into 6th grade math! School looks a lot different these days. Mornings start with dog chores instead of rushing out the door to make it to his desk before the 8:00 am bell. Some days Ian is out running dogs until 10:00. Sometimes he pauses his studies to go spend an hour swimming or fishing. In January, Ian finished math and grammar from the backseat of the truck while we drove to Alabama for a mushing race. Snow outside and slippery roads no longer mean a missed day of school, but an invitation from Auntie Shauntie in the middle of the semester means a 2 week break from school to go run dogs in Alaska.

Today marks day 12 of Ian’s second year as a full time homeschooler. He spent the afternoon working with Lindsey, his new tutor, on diagraming sentences and learning about the geography of South America. Tomorrow Ian will spend the afternoon with Mrs. Howell, his unbelievably talented music teacher. Next week he’ll attend a week of sewing lessons.

It takes a village to raise and educate a child. With the help from my parents, close friends, and an amazing community across our town, Ian has the village he needs to help him learn in the environment best suited for his educational needs. And his team of spoiled huskies are awfully glad that they get to spend more time with their favorite kid as he now attends Tennessee Mushing Academy.