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SPRING 2018
HOMESCHOOL IOWA 9
It is my hope that after reading this feature, second-generation
homeschooling families will be encouraged to stay the course, and
families new to homeschooling plan to finish the journey strong.
Imagine we are sitting at my table holding cups of steaming tea
and listening to three talented homeschool graduates share their
educational stories. Where will your student’s educational journey
lead? I hope it ends with a high school graduation party!
E
very student has a unique school experience, but when
high school is finished, all students are grouped under
one term, “the homeschool graduate.” Will the label of
“homeschool graduate” profit or hurt your student? Is it as good
as a “real” high school diploma? Can a homeschool graduate get
into college? Some parents homeschool through eighth grade,
and then enroll their children in public schools, thinking, “I can’t
teach high school. I’m not equipped.”
Can you supervise chemistry and calculus classes when you
don’t knowwhat an algorithm is or how to explain electromotive
forces to a teenager? Literally hundreds of parents walk with you
on this path. Most of us aren’t scientists and physicists able to
tiptoe through these lessons and experiments in our kitchens.
(Well, I’m certainly not!) Seeking outside assistance when
needed through coops, colleges, and friends with those degrees
is one way to supervise and remain homeschooling families
through high school.
Sculpting Her Future
Artist Emily Verdoorn was homeschooled “from the beginning
until I graduated from high school. My parents deeply value a
good education, for which I am so grateful. This meant reading
a lot of good books and spending time outdoors, but also being
consistent in work, like math, science, and other traditional
subjects. My parents also encouraged us to pursue what
interested us. For me, this was often art related.”
As a high school student, Verdoorn took private and group art
classes in Des Moines. Almost all her free time was busy creat-
ing something, “clay penguins to popsicle-stick cabins to pencil
drawings.” Participating in a variety of area homeschool co-ops
offered many learning experiences for this budding artist. The
freedom homeschooling offered gave her parents countless op-
portunities for varied art lessons and unique experiences as part
of her high school programming.
“I knew I wanted to study art, but I did not know how or where.
I learned about Belhaven University at a homeschool conven-
tion in Cincinnati, Ohio. For two years I took a few classes online
through Belhaven and Des Moines Area Community College,”
added Miss Verdoorn. “I attended Summit Semester in Pagosa
Springs, Colorado, that brought 30 students together studying
worldview and Christian thought. This shaped my thoughts, and
I decided to finish my studies in Jackson, Mississippi, at Belhav-
en University’s campus. I did not know anyone there, and I was
moving 13 hours away from my family. But my professors in the
Art Department grew to be mentors, and I found close friends. I
graduated in May 2017 with my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Visual
Art (BFA). I returned to the Des Moines area and currently teach
art lessons through the Des Moines Home Instruction Program
and The Art House Des Moines.”
Verdoorn credits her parents guiding her education that shapes
her choices as an adult. “I am a Christian, and that is very impor-
tant to me. My Christian education absolutely played a role in
my worldview. In our culture, when we are immersed in social
media, even mass education, it is easy to feel like a replicable
part in a giant machine. In
a family, this is different.
Members are not inter-
changeable.”
She continues, “C.S. Lewis,
one of my favorite au-
thors, discussed the value
of membership and loss
of self in his book, Weight
of Glory. He writes that
an individual may lose
their name by becoming
a prisoner. In this case, he
is given a number rather
than a name. The second
is if a man is in a family.
There he is called “father”
or “grandfather”. In the
first instance an individual
joins a collective. In the
second instance he joins
a membership. To quote
Lewis, ‘The father and the
grandfather are almost as
different as the cat and
the dog. If you subtract
any one member, you
have not simply reduced
the family in number,
you have inflicted injury
on its structure.’ It was in
membership that I was
primarily educated. It was
in membership that I be-
came a Christian. This is
no small thing. I cannot
remember a time when
I was not a Christian in a
Christian home, surround-
ed by a supportive home-
schooling community of
all ages.”
CONTINUED PG 13
Beyond The Homeschool Years
BY LAURA CARLSON
ARTIST
Emily Vordoorn