Does Education Change Lives? Yes it does!

9/16/2015

Why Homeschooling is for Us:

At the start of 2015 we made a ground-breaking decision for the future of our kids in the GiveHope2Kids family. We became homeschoolers.

Actually, our homeschooling story started a little earlier than this. Let's introduce you to Daysi. When Daysi first arrived at GH2K, she was 11-years-old, but due to her life circumstances, she'd only had a chance to attend first grade in school. We tutored her for two months, and she was ready to test into the 5th grade level at school.

Unfortunately for Daysi though, the educational system here had just set several rules that: a) made it impossible for students to advance ahead in grades, and b) keeps older students from entering local junior highs. Under these rules, Daysi would have graduated 6th grade at 16, with almost no chance of continuing on with her education.

So, we got creative. We ended up working through an alternative learning program. We've successfully fast-tracked four of our kids now, to help them catch up on the school they missed earlier in life.

In 2014, both Daysi and Carolina worked very hard to complete 5th and 6th grade in one year and graduated from elementary school. What an accomplishment it was for them!

Now both girls are studying at Instituto El Rey. They are on track for finishing high school, and both have dreams of going on to study in university. (Both girls are in need of more sponsorship, if you're interested in helping either of these girls succeed.)

You'll hear us talk a lot about education changing lives, and it could sound a little trite, but for our ministry, it's the real deal. By homeschooling our elementary students, we can take them from struggling and behind, to competitive or even ahead.

For the past 9 months, we've homeschooled our K-6th graders four days a week, and they've attended our village school the fifth day. We have seen so much positive growth in these kids during this year! They recognize how much they're learning and are loving it. So for 2016, we're venturing into full-time homeschooling.

How will this play out? We are now working with the department of education, so we can become an official homeschooling community and have our curriculum approved. In the future, we hope to tie our homeschool program right in with the Trade School, so we can offer our kids even more opportunities to succeed in life.

We will still seek to bless our village school and its students, as this is one of our values. As much as possible, we will continue teaching them computers and English, help the school with renovation projects, and provide them with educational resources.

This is a big undertaking. Please pray that we would have wisdom as we invest in our kid's education. When we consider the rough backgrounds that these kids came from, and then see where they are today, we are so encouraged for the future!