Hey there! My name is Jessica (Jesse) Schnellbacher. I’ve been homeschooling since my boys started 1st grade. I was one of those moms who heard about homeschooling, but I had enjoyed an amazing public school experience. That experience left me very prepared for pursuing the Bachelors in Biology I eventually obtained from Truman State University. When my children came to be, not only did I not want to deprive my kids of a similar experience, I also just didn’t think I was cut out to homeschool, so I thought to myself- nope, never, not going to be me, I just can’t.
Spoiler Alert- I did (and still am.) My mother in law had operated her own Montessori school for over two decades by the time I had my boys, and when the Army moved us to Washington state, there were many Montessori schools to choose from in the Tacoma area. We found one we loved, and my boys each went there for 2-3 years. That experience served them so well, and they learned so much, that by the time they were old enough to enroll in the public school, I realized it wasn’t going to work for them. I had now lived in enough places (Washington was our third duty station) to understand that not all public schools were created equal. The school my kids would have attended was struggling. I realized that if I enrolled them in the school we were zoned for, they would be bored to tears, repeating so much of what they’d already learned, and having to completely shift how they approached a school day, since Montessori learning is heavily child-directed. In addition, it was becoming more and more clear just how many moves our family had in our future, and how unstable their school experience might be if we had to enroll in a new district every couple of years. So I did what I was *never* going to do and took the homeschooling plunge. I’ve learned a lot, and my kids have learned even more. We’ve gone through our growing pains, our de-schooling and mental-block removal phases. I laugh now remembering how I chose to homeschool to give them a different experience, yet still tried to emulate ‘circle time’ with my single first grader and his stuffed animals. Cute, but yikes. Now I’m homeschooling a high schooler, another thing I was *never* going to do, and there are new growing pains, new mental-blocks to remove, but thankfully, we have no regrets. I’m able to allow my children to seek out the knowledge they want, while tailoring their learning experience to ensure they obtain the lessons they need to grow into healthy, mature, responsible adults, keeping what works and grows them, and letting go of what doesn’t. As a part of The Social Homeschooler, I’ve been so thankful to see my kiddos develop connections and relationships, and experience things I’d struggle to provide them on my own. In addition, I’ve been blessed to make my own connections, and to have the opportunity to serve the co-op and its members so they can have the same opportunities.
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August 2023
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