Orthodox Christian Morning Time Homeschool Curriculum, Changes and Charter Schools

I am starting this post with a photograph of St. Nectarios. Ever since I saw the movie "Man of God" recently, I have come to understand why Orthodox Christians ask for his intercession with regards to education. Recently, I have asked for his prayers for education decisions!

People who know me, know that I am a "homeschooling mom." I make "homeschooling curriculum." I love reading about homeschooling! But something happened gradually after my son turned 12 that I wasn't expecting to happen so soon. Something changed in him, and in how I felt my relationship with him needed to go during this time, and homeschooling started to feel like not the right way forward. To make a long story short, my oldest son is now attending a public charter school 20 minutes from our house. He has been there for two weeks! While a huge change, all things considered, my son attending this small charter school seems like a very good fit for our family and what everyone needs right now. I am starting to see why parents of pre-teens and teens have to carefully weigh a number of factors regarding each individual child, family situation, etc. to make things work in the modern world.

And by the way, I am very glad I homeschooled my son until this age, because I see how set my son is in his values/identity, and he has no desire to change himself in major ways to fit in. Before school started, he didn't even care what the other kids might be wearing to school and asked me to order him the same polo shirts of various colors. I even asked him if he wanted to wait to order clothes to make sure he wanted that. At my current age of 42, 12 seems young, but from a child development standpoint, it seems to be an age where kids are typically set in their ways, for the most part. I also remind myself of the story when Christ went to preach in the temple at age 12 and his parents couldn't find Him. Twelve is a significant age for boys.

This public charter school is very small, with strict electronics policies and, all things considered, a traditional take on education. I also live in Northwest Arkansas. This might be another post in itself, but homeschoolers in my area are so similar to public schoolers these days (at the pre-teen/teen level), that I have not seen the benefit socially in homeschooling my son. In fact, it often seems worse because the largest homeschooling co-ops in my area are run by women that do not believe in rules/phone policies. So rather than socializing over algebra, my son would have to socialize over things that are not part of my family's culture. So there is another side to why "school" might be better than homeschooling depending on the social and extra-curricular opportunities available in your area.

Also, I am still glad I made the Orthodox Christian Homeschool Morning Time Curriculum. I will be using it as summer school for my boys until we are done with it, and we will finish what's left for their 4th and 9th grade school years.

(Update May 2025: There are so many new homeschooling opportunities where I live thanks to the Arkansas Learns Act that "homeschooling" a pre-teen/teen may become much more feasible here. Specifically, hybrid schools for homeschoolers that provide enough legitimate courses, socialization (with enough structure/rules) but still allow for the homeschooling family lifestyle.

I am very glad we did this charter school experiment in middle school, rather than high school, since everyone in the family is mostly on the same page about homeschooling for the high school years after having a taste of the secular school system, though we plan to make use of online classes for most high school coursework.)