Vitamin Parents Part 1: Twin Moms Converting a Decent Traditional School Experience Into a “Wow” Homeschool One
Welcome to Homeschooling Journeys with Mariana Castillo
These next two episodes of Homeschooling Journeys feature twin sisters: Mariana and Andreina.
They’re from Venezuela, and moved to the U.S. for college. Each has two kids, and they are living in Florida.
They’re what I call “Vitamin Homeschoolers,” versus last week’s episode about Daniella, who was an “Aspirin Homeschooler.” By vitamin, I just mean there’s no acute problem to solve, no aspirin situation. Regular school was okay for their kids, but they see homeschool as a vitamin, a turbocharger.
Andreina jokes that since Mariana is the PhD, when they decided to homeschool, Mariana went out and read 10 books – whereas Andreina does the reassuring, telling her sister, “Hey, we got this.”
A pain point that Mariana describes is her own time. Gone are the days where regular school “watched” her kids, so she could do phone calls, work, groceries, or workouts.
“But I feel like the benefits of homeschooling have been so great. The relationships, bonding, spending time with the kids as they grow up, getting to know them better, getting to do all these fun experiments and activities with them, so far it’s been worth it… And as they’re getting older, it’s getting a little bit easier. I can go to the bathroom, or sit down and read a little bit without them constantly bombarding me with requests for attention.”
Both parents feel they have a good handle on the core academics for each day – math, English, science, and history. So they don’t have large ESA expenditures for basic things, a math curriculum here, a book on Greek mythology there.
Instead, they’re spending most ESA dollars on memorable experiences, both in academics – like Surf Skate Science, a program that teaches science through surfing and skateboarding (future episode), and in enrichment, like competitive jujitsu, learning drums and keyboards, or even competitive soccer.
Tell us what you liked and didn’t about the episode! You can email me at MGoldstein@pioneerinstitute.org.
