About

About Us and Why We Homeschool

I'm Sara Raynor. I was not homeschooled but I feel like it would have been a right fit for me growing up. I feel like the american public schools did not meet my needs. Many of my experiences through school and work shaped my decision to homeschool and my understanding of how to prepare my children to be contributing and successful members of society.

I was born in Italy to an American Dad and an Italian Mom. I started school in Italy. I was bored in public school so my parents put me into a private bi-lingual (English and Italian) school and I was placed one year ahead of my grade. In second grade I was already speaking, reading and writing two languages and doing long division.

We moved to the U.S. after I turned seven years old and in public schools they wouldn't let me skip ahead a grade so I was placed in second grade again. I had to catch up with the language a little (Americans use a lot of slang and colloquialisms that I hadn't learned in school), but I was bored with math and eventually with a lot of things. Thankfully my third grade teacher recommended me for the gifted program.

My mom said if she had known homeschooling was an option, she would have done that, but being a foreign citizen, and homeschooling wasn't really a thing in Italy, she just didn't know. My parents tried to keep me challenged with extracurricular activities, which probably kept me out of trouble. I did swim team, flute and oboe in band, classical and jazz piano and I was in a ballet company through high school. 

I could have graduated one year early but my HS counselor advised me against it because I was "college bound" only my parents made too much money for me to qualify for any scholarships, but not enough to send me to college. I ended up going to Junior College for three years and then transferring to a 4 year school where I majored in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. I finished my degree but was unable to afford to continue school and so I started looking for work. 

I eventually got my phlebotomy certification and really enjoyed working for medical labs for over eight years. One of the companies I worked for was offering scholarships for continuing education to go into Medical Technology (they do the testing on the specimens collected in medical labs). I was at a crossroads, having recently been married and we wanted to have children. With a lot of prayer and discussion with my husband, we had decided before we got married that when we had children, I would stay home with them. We therefore decided it wasn't worth it for me to spend two years getting this certification only for it to be time for us to have children and then I would be staying home and could not "repay" the company by going to work for them (which was part of the deal). 

Our first was born in 2010 and we like to say we have been homeschooling since they were born. Every moment can be a teaching moment. We feel like they are becoming awesome little people! 

I'm sure our direction will be shaped by more experiences, but we are really happy with the road we have chosen. I want my children to know they have many options where they can find their place in the workforce and that traditional college is not the only way. 

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This is David, he was homeschooled after 1st grade. He feels that if he had been in public school, he would not have made it as far as he did in school. He was only recently diagnosed with ADHD and he now understands why homeschool worked so well for him. He is now successfully working in the Tech field and using his Network Administration degree that he earned through online school.

When he transitioned from homeschool to Junior College he was bored and not interested. His grades suffered as he discovered "socializing" on a different level than he had grown up with. He quit college for a while and just worked many jobs and followed his interests. 

He says he never thought he was "dumb" but knew he was forgetful and easily distracted. He somehow managed to do well at work but his family and friends knew he wasn't reliable for remembering scheduled activities and following through on commitments without many reminders. 

After getting married, he was very motivated to get into a career. He worked very hard to get his real estate license and got into the business (with his dad) right before the market crashed. After about a year, we realized that if we wanted to eventually be a one-income family, that real estate was not the place for him to be. We needed income that was a little less "irregular".

He started attending an online university and completed his Associates in Business and eventually his Bachelor's in Network Administration. We lived in a rural area and he struggled for two years to find a job in the field, but eventually we made the decision to move to a bigger city when he got a great job for a big tech company. 

He had already completed his degree when he was diagnosed with ADHD. The diagnosis was a huge blessing to him and to our marriage. He does not take the medication and instead he manages by using reminder tools, intentional ADHD optimized organization, a healthy diet, essential oils, and it really helps that he works in a field that really interests him and challenges him. 

His experience growing up made him appreciate how homeschool was tailored to his needs. Having a family he wanted to care for inspired and motivated him to overcome his challenges and focus his attention.

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Our combined experiences have led us to homeschool. We know our children better than anyone and we know we can provide them with individualized learning and help them find their path to success and self-sustainability. We also want to shape their emotional learning around our faith and not the current society's values (or lack thereof). We recognize this model doesn't work for everyone and we are thankful that we all have the freedom to choose different paths for our children!