Local parents share benefits of homeschooling

Mar. 7—ENID, Okla. — Rashell Bridle's 6-year-old daughter Maya learned to read her first sentence in a hotel room in Austin, Texas, after the family had to evacuate their home during Hurricane Laura in August 2020.

Their Texas home was without power for a few weeks, so the family made the most of it and kept on with schoolwork, and since Bridle homeschools Maya, it wasn't difficult to work around the chaos brought on by the hurricane.

"We evacuated near the Frio River and the Guadalupe River, which have beautiful blue waters ... It was gorgeous, so we just made a vacation out of it — took our schoolbooks and swam and floated the river and learned to read," Bridle said.

Bridle, who just recently moved to Kingfisher, began homeschooling Maya last March after the stay-at-home orders were put in place.

They tried distance-learning for two weeks after spring break, and though the school district did the best it could in the situation, it became clear to Bridle that if she didn't teach Maya herself, Maya would not learn to read.

"As a mom, and as a parent, it is my responsibility to educate my child," she said.

Challenges involved

Like Bridle, Wendy Mardis began homeschooling three of her four children because of COVID-19. She wanted her kids to have consistency, and she and her husband, who was homeschooled, felt comfortable teaching them at home.

Every morning, her children, Joshua, 7, Lily, 6, and Carolynn, 4, eat breakfast while they watch their Bible class videos, then they'll do reading, spelling and poetry before taking a break; then they'll do math, 15 more minutes of reading, combination class and lastly, an activity that changes every day — singing, art, history or science, for example.

At first, Mardis, whose husband works night shifts and usually sleeps while the kids are doing schoolwork, said transitioning to homeschooling was difficult because she didn't know anything about it.

"I did do the research and got everything organized, but, even still, you can be organized and still get to the situation, and you feel disorganized," Mardis said.

Dea Tatro has always homeschooled her 15-year-old daughter Holley and 11-year-old son Mallory, and said Mardis' feelings are pretty normal — one of the challenges she faced in early years of homeschooling was wondering if she was teaching her kids enough, asking herself, "Am I doing this right?"

Tatro and a few other parents created the Enid Area Homeschoolers group on Facebook, which helps homeschoolers organize meet-ups and play dates, and Tatro said it can help ease the fears new homeschool parents have by offering a support system to help them.

Melissa Crabtree has homeschooled her kids — 18-year-old Jacob, who graduated last year, and Mattie, 14 — for 14 years now. One thing she ran into while homeschooling has been her kids having opposite learning styles and different interests, so she's had to find different ways to teach each child.

One of the biggest struggles as a homeschool parent, Tatro said, is "finding time for just yourself." Finding a group of adults to spend time with, whether it's getting lunch or having a girls' night, is important. Tatro said that play dates scheduled within the homeschool group aren't for the kids — it's for the parents.

"It is one of the hardest things as a mom because all day long, you're mom, wife, teacher," she said. "Hopefully, people can find those other moms that are the exact same because that's what we do."

Socialization skills with homeschool kids is often brought up to Crabtree: "What about socialization? How do you get them socialized?"

With homeschooling, children get to interact with all ages, Crabtree said, and being involved in groups and having interactions with family members, cashiers and mail carriers gives children necessary social skills. Bridle brings Maya along with her on errands, such as to the grocery store, the bank or doctor's appointments because "every little thing is a learning experience."

'It's worth it'

Though there are a few challenges that come with homeschooling, the rewards and benefits far outweigh the difficulties, the parents said.

First, it brings freedom and flexibility, like when Bridle taught Maya in a hotel, and Tatro said if the weather outside is too nice to pass up, they'll take a "Sunday fun day" during the week and go do something, such as visit the Great Salt Plains.

"There's no guilt in it," she said. "We'll still learn something."

Mardis said her children grasp concepts better and stay focused more with the one-on-one time homeschooling provides, making sure kids are learning and understanding the material, and Crabtree said homeschooling allows for child-centered learning.

"A parent has a stronger desire to advocate for their children more than anyone," she said. "What I mean by that is when we're talking about their individual learning needs — children aren't designed to fit into a cookie cutter method — and when you're at home, you can design their education system around what works best for the child."

Tatro has seen how incorporating children's interests into their schoolwork has helped them learn.

"When kids are little, they have interests, and it's like, 'Oh, my kid's only interested in dinosaurs.' Well, there's a lot you can do with dinosaurs," Tatro said. "My daughter loved animals ... and so everything became a lesson with animals, and you just tie it in."

Tatro also incorporates real life experiences into their lessons to "bring history alive," such as having the kids talk to their grandparents about World War II, and technology gives many ways to help kids learn, whether it's by looking something up on Google, watching a video or visiting a zoo virtually — "everything is at your fingertips," Tatro said.

Bridle, who has three adult children and a 15-year-old son in public school, said watching Maya learn new skills and read her first word, sentence and book is something she never considered she was missing out on.

"Seeing your kiddo, especially the younger ones in elementary, master something ... It is like watching your child take those first steps, walking," she said. "I never thought I was missing out on anything by sending my kiddos to school, and, boy, was I wrong."

Mardis said engaging with her kids, helping them understand the material and "helping in their process of growing up" is one of the most rewarding tasks as a parent.

Crabtree said as a Christian, one benefit is being able to disciple her kids and teach them a biblical worldview, and she loves getting to build relationships with them as a parent and a teacher, roles Bridle said coincide.

"I think as a parent, you're always a teacher," Bridle said. "Whether your kiddo is in public school, or at home learning, your job as a parent is to teach, and whether we realize it as or not, we're always teaching our kids."

If she had to do it all over again, Crabtree has no doubts about homeschooling her children.

"It's not easy, but it's worth it.

Kelci McKendrick is police and court reporter for the Enid News & Eagle.

Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Kelci? Send an email to kelcim@enidnews.com.