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Homeschooling and Sports by Stacy Baxter

1/30/2023

About Me: I played public school volleyball all 4 years, club volleyball for 4 years, and I played Division II volleyball for a short stint at Shepherd University before I was injured and could not play anymore. I have also coached volleyball in the public school and currently coach for the Bravehearts homeschool team.

About 8 million high schoolers play sports every year. As homeschoolers, we want our kids to have the opportunity to play sports as well. I have heard so many homeschool parents say, “I will send my kids to public school for high school so that they can play sports.” My question is why?
Sports are important. I think no matter what your future plans are, learning to play on a team is an incredibly important life skill. But are sports more important than a child’s character? Below are some common things I have heard through the years and my response.

My child can’t get the same competitive experience in the homeschool setting as they can at the public school.
I disagree and agree. I disagree because there are many competitive high school homeschool sports. Below is a list of teams in the area. They can be just as competitive as the public school teams. In fact, my Bravehearts JV Volleyball team beat one of the local public school JV teams at a tournament this past fall. I agree because it won’t be the same experience and that is a good thing. Most of the homeschool teams are Christian. My volleyball team has devotions every practice and we pray together. As a coach, I can be more involved in a player’s character development than I can at the public school level. When I coached in the public school, it was way more than I was prepared for. I had girls with eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, and sexuality questions. As a coach, I was not allowed to talk with the girls about these issues, I just had to send them to the guidance counselor. Of course I prayed for these girls but I couldn’t pray with them. I couldn’t talk to their parents about it. With the Bravehearts, I have not had any issues like those but I am not naive to think they do not exist. But I know I can talk with the girls and pray with them. I can talk to their parents and support them. As a parent of a high school athlete, I want my child on a team that has a coach with the same morals as me. A coach I know will pray with my daughter and talk with me. You won’t get that in a public school and not because the coaches won’t do it, but because they can’t.
I want my child to play in college and they need to play in public school to be able to do that.
There was a time where this was true but not anymore. Most kids that play in public school also play off season in their respective sport on a club/travel team. This is where college recruiting usually happens. The teams tend to travel to larger tournaments where college recruits will come because they can look at a large number of players at once.
A lot of club/travel teams have admin that can help a player develop videos of a player to submit to a college. The FCA Volleyball club that my daughter plays for holds special meetings for players wanting to play in college. They bring in college coaches and aid in developing videos.
Homeschool players play with others from public school and private schools.
I played college volleyball and even though I had to stop due to injury, I am not sure I would have played the next year anyway. College sports are tough. We would leave at 3, drive 2 hours, play a match, drive 2 hours back. Getting back sometimes at midnight and having an 8 am class the next day. Doing this for weeks on end was rough. Then in the off season, you train. 6 am training sessions before 8 am classes are no fun. I missed out on so many other things in college because I was either studying, training, practicing, or traveling. And I sat on the bench a good bit. The only time I started was a few games when our starting outside hitter was hurt. My brother played Division III baseball all 4 years and loved it. So I am not saying you can’t love college sports but he was disciplined and he didn’t want a life outside of baseball. That was his life. Personally, I wanted a life outside of volleyball.
According to scholarshipstats.com only about 7% of high school athletes go on to play in college. That is quite a small number no matter how they were schooled.
I want my child to be a light to the public school kids that may not know Christ.
I completely agree that we want our kids to be lights to others but high schoolers are still figuring out who they are. In public schools today, identities are in crisis. Although I was confident in my faith in high school, I was still quickly brought down at times by my non-believing peers. In life when you are surrounded by enough negativity, you will eventually start to have negative thoughts. If you are conscious of it you can spend time in the Word and stay positive. But teenagers who are just starting their walk as young adults, and who also want to fit in with their peers, can be easily overwhelmed by the great task of being a light to others.

I know there are some student athletes that get recruited from public school but those numbers are few. And I know Christians who went through public school and were successful. But when making the decision for our own kids, we have to give them the best platform possible for adulthood. So I am reassuring you that your child CAN get the same experience on a homeschool and/or club team. Public high school is NOT the only good option for high school sports!

Homeschool Sports - Middle and High School Level Sports

Football
Central Maryland Christian Crusaders
https://www.christian-crusaders.com/
High School Boys (Ages 15-18)
Middle School Boys (Ages 11-14)

Cheerleading
Central Maryland Christian Crusaders
Cheerleading Coach: Sarah Delph
sdelphcmcc@yahoo.com
443-340-7726

Volleyball
FCA Bravehearts
braveheartsvb.org
shelly@braveheartsvb.org
Middle School & High School Girls

Soccer
CHE Soccer, Deer Park
Cheunitedsoccer@gmail.com
Co-ed for younger grades
Varsity and rec teams for older grades

Northern Maryland FCA Women’s Varsity Sports
https://www.nmdfca.org/womens-varsity-teams?fbclid=IwAR0mr12qvJYpDtFJHlvoSJy1jFAMaqAQJ_hEzUpxeTQgo1W9AsudRVHm0yM

Northern Maryland FCA Men’s Varsity Sports
https://www.nmdfca.org/mens-varsity-teams?fbclid=IwAR1s0RB2kz2XWhskolqU8rDu6efstjz3DGa43kBJlVWmeDnPJi1mclya0vU

Boys Lacrosse
Tim Hines
THINES@FCA.ORG OR 443-324-3914
Parkville, MD

FCA Girls Varsity Lacrosse
Joppa, MD
Tim Hines
thines@fca.org OR 443-324-3914

Homeschool Sports for Other Ages

Gymnastics
TRIBE Co-op
Friday afternoons
Co-ed, ages 4-9
electivefriday@gmail.com

Carroll Gymnastics, Inc.
https://carrollgymnastics.com/
Girls classes and Boys classes

Swimming
Basin Swim Academy
https://basinswimacademy.com/programs/homeschool-swim-program/

Tennis
York Adams Community Tennis Association (YACTA)
www.yorkadamstennis.org
Boys and Girls, Ages 5-17
Tuesdays 2-3:15pm, $5.00
Denise Dunn, Director of Programs

Rugby (Not just for homeschoolers)
Gina Palermo (maraudersevents@outlook.com)
www.westcarrollrugby.com
Middle School and High School

Mixed Martial Arts
Shaddock MMA Fitness Academy
Eldersburg, MD
https://shaddockmma.com/

Ice Skating
Reisterstown Sportsplex
https://www.rtownsports.com/learn-to-skate

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What I Learned from Latin by Alumni Aaron Smith

1/16/2023

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I remember it well. That moment when my teacher would finally call on me to come up to the board to translate a Latin sentence. One by one each of my classmates would be picked on, and the anticipation, the stress grew and grew until at last I heard, “Aaron, why don’t you do the next sentence.” I knew I was about to embarrass myself. After seven years of doing this you would think I would be able to translate a simple sentence without getting nervous. Slowly, I proceeded up to the board.

“Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas.”

This didn’t look too bad. Only six words! And I was certain I knew at least three of them.

“‘Saepe’, that is ‘always’!” I wrote ‘always’ down on the board. “Ok what next? ‘Creat’. Well that looks like ‘create’ so it’s probably ‘create’. I wrote that right next to it. “‘Always create’. Ok, this makes sense so far. What next? ‘Molles.’” I went over to my dictionary to look it up. “Ok, it’s an adjective, it means ‘tender’. Well it’s right next to ‘aspera’ so it must be modifying that.” I looked up ‘aspera’. “‘Harsh’? Another adjective? This doesn’t make sense.”

I turned to my teacher in confusion hoping she would resolve the problem. All she said was, “Stop thinking like an English speaker, this is Latin.”

I remember all the hundreds of instances where I was corrected for trying to translate Latin sentences in order from the first word to last. I remember all the instances where I tried to connect an accusative adjective with a dative noun simply because they were next to each other. I remember all the instances where I confused “saepe” with “semper.” But, in the end, after these years of high school I have finally been able to break away from those English habits and have just started to peer into the timeless poetry of the ancient Romans. From the emotional cries of Catullus, to the poetical wisdom of Horace, all the way to the technical genius of Virgil, by breaking the barriers of my English speaking habits, I have been able to start looking into an entire different world of ideas, ideas that have been abandoned in the English speaking world. The English language leaves ideas ambiguous, leaves sentences bland, and prevents us from utilizing the beautiful dactyl at all in a truly musical way. These were all things I had not noticed before taking Latin. All the hours of stress, of nervousness, and of confusion in the classroom finally brought me to realize there is something beautiful worth exploring, Latin poetry. I finally understood the point, the reason for learning all these ablative usages, for memorizing all the confusing forms of vis, for memorizing all the UNUS NAUTA words. It made sense. It was taking me beyond my normal way of thinking and stretching my mind in a manner that allowed me to grasp new ideas written by people from a completely different culture in a completely different time. By learning Latin, I have thus been able to approach problems in my Great Books class from a completely different angle. In my writing, I have been able to determine creative ways to express similar ideas. In normal conversation, I have been able to question the thoughts of others and of myself so as to become more articulate.

Even though it was difficult at first, even though it caused much stress and confusion, ultimately, Latin taught me what it means to think. A little bit of difficulty in life usually does produce greatness. As the sentence read that I struggled to translate all those years ago, “Often a harsh thorn begets gentle roses.” Latin was certainly a harsh thorn, but my new perspective and way of thinking is a gentle rose which I am more than grateful for, and, even more so, am hopeful to continue to grow.

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Homeschooling is hard by Stacy Baxter

1/11/2023

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  Homeschooling is hard! When Steve and I first started talking about homeschooling Leiana when she was preschool age, I thought it would be easy. I get to spend time with my kids. I get to go on field trips when we want. I have control over what they will learn. I got this! Ha!!
We found Christiana when Leiana was in preschool. We interviewed her and enrolled her for Kindergarten. I knew a few people that homeschooled their kids and they had it together (or so it seemed) and I was ready to tackle this new endeavor.
  That lasted about 4 months. Then I panicked. I had a toddler at home as well as trying to teach Leiana. I remember telling Steve, “I can’t do this, I can’t even make it through Kindergarten!” Not because of anything at Christiana but because I was feeling inadequate to teach her. Especially with a toddler at home. He reassured me I could but agreed to tour private schools to see what else was out there. We toured all the area private schools but I became torn. Did I want to send my kids 5 days a week and give up control over what they were learning? We spent time in prayer and I felt compelled to homeschool one more year. I told Steve, “No promises for the future but I will try 1st grade.” And here we are 10 years later still at Christiana with a 9th grader and 6th grader. I will tell anyone, “I take it one year at a time. No promises for next year.”
   Early on in my homeschooling days, I read an article of a homeschooling mom talking about this very same issue. One thing stuck out to me. She said that an average person lives to be about 80 years old. You only have a child in your home for 18 years out of those 80. Between school, sports, friends, and other activities, we lose so much of that small amount of time that God blesses us with. By homeschooling I get to have more time with them and more influence in their life. By homeschooling at Christiana we get the best of both worlds- quantity and quality time together, plus some healthy separation on Mondays and Wednesdays while they spend some of that precious time influenced by Christian tutors, and like-minded peers. I know that when I look back when I am old, I will rest assured that I raised them to the best of my ability
Is it hard? YES!!! Are there multiple days that I was ready to enroll them in school? YES!! Does it take up a lot of time? YES!! Is it exhausting? YES!!
So many moms tell me that they could never homeschool their kids. I hear “We would kill each other!”, "I would go crazy!”, and so many other things. I am here to say, everyone has the ability to homeschool. As the saying goes, “Choose your hard”. Life is hard, raising kids is hard, marriage is hard. I choose to homeschool knowing that it is hard. Knowing that there are days when the kids are in tears or I am or we both are. There are days when Steve comes home that I tell him he has to finish school work with one of the girls because I just can’t. I spend a lot of time in prayer and then the next day is a new day and we do it all over again. Looking back, I find it so hard to believe that I have made it this far in homeschooling. But with God and the support of other homeschooling families at Christiana we have persevered. I don’t know what the future holds for us as I still take it one year at a time but I am so glad that I committed the time to educating my girls at home.
   Disclaimer - I am also realistic to know not everyone is in the position to homeschool. While everyone has the ability to homeschool, I know not everyone can due to life circumstances.

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Our Trip To An Art Museum by Erika Adam

1/9/2023

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Anyone who knows our family well is aware that I can sum up the history of our homeschool journey as follows: One of my kids has fallen rather far behind on his homework.

(In my defense, I have five kids. So really, as a family, we’re still running at 80% caught up. Or so I tell myself.)

I love my kids. I love learning. I love it when my kids are learning. Sometimes, though,the kids and the learning don’t seem to want to mesh together well- and that’s when things get difficult.

So, when my son got stuck and fell behind, with his grades falling and his mood and motivation with them, we did what any sensible homeschooling family would do- we doubled down and worked harder took a pause, and went to the art gallery.

And I am grateful- because if it were not for the 10+ years that our family has spent at Christiana, I might never have known to do this.

What I’ve learned through homeschooling here is that a challenge in an academic subject is rarely solved through extra focus on that subject alone. Instead, it’s about the student as a whole person, and the relationship between that student and God.

Our time at the gallery was about the art. Until it wasn’t. And once it wasn’t, then it was about our ideas about the past and the present, my son’s wonder at the human experience through different eras and places, and our humility before the works of great artists through the passage of time.

From these encounters come a new understanding of the challenges of our own lives, the recognition that these hurdles have been crossed before by countless others, and the realization that there is meaning in all this- then and now.

In short, our trip was about perspective. Which is what we all need when we get stuck.

I can’t do that for my kids- not through my will, my ability, or my effort. But God grants these things to us through the experience of beauty.

As I write this, I’m sitting next to a very different child than the one I had yesterday. And thankfully, I am also looking at a growing stack of completed homework.

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Grace and Pots and Pans by Sadie Peterson

1/4/2023

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There are dishes in the sink from dinner last night, and the floor needs sweeping. My grading sits in a pile next to me at the dining room table along with my fifth cup of coffee. I am wearing my black “fancy” velour sweatpants, stained, and faded from the years, that I affectionately refer to as my homeschooler uniform. A plush robe covered with stars balances out the look. This is not a glamorous life I have chosen for my children and me, and some days feel more like putting out fires than the lighting of a fire that I am told education is supposed to be. Honestly, I feel like a failure (or worse, an imposter) a greater percentage of the time than I would like. So, why? Why homeschool? Better yet why homeschool at CHA, where deadlines loom and I am opening myself up to those conversations in the hallway with one of my child’s tutors that start with, “Can we talk about ----?” and ends with me holding back my frustration at the many balls my child and I have dropped?

                How did I end up homeschooling in the first place? That’s a long story that I would be happy to expound on at another time, but let’s just say that God has a way of putting you exactly where you are supposed to be if you are open to Him. I found myself at Christiana after being a part of the public school system as a student through graduate school, teaching and sending my children to Catholic schools outside of DC for twelve years and homeschooling at home for a year and a half. My introduction to classical education was a boys’ school called Avalon in Gaithersburg where my son, Sam, attended for two years. I fell in love with idea of a classical education. Here were young boys competing in poetry recitations, learning the code of chivalry, coming home with tales of fort wars that were very loosely supervised by male teachers during recess. I saw my son, who was reserved and melancholic by nature thrive in this environment.

                Here I am years later trying to piece together what a classical education should look like, and I keep circling around the transcendental ideas of goodness, truth and beauty. A seminarian recently informed me that unity should also be included in that category, which felt like a wonderful truth in and of itself. Unity – that seems like something worth striving for in my family, my community and even in my own mind. But I digress.

                How does Christiana help me in my goals of educating my children in loving the good, the true, the unified, the beautiful? Well, first of all, my goals (with the help of daily prayer) are always front and center when I come to the table to educate my children. I try not to lose the forest for the PERFECT-your-paper-checklist trees. I would like to say I have great organizational techniques to getting it all done, but my dirty secret is that we don’t get it all done. Does that mean we don’t even try? No. Absolutely not. We try to fulfill every demand made by the tutors. I am a tutor. I do not assign busy work and my experience tells me that most tutors at CHA don’t either.

                My children know there is an order to getting our work done. We tackle writing, math, and grammar first. Those subjects are closely supervised by me. They are hopefully completed before we break for lunch. My younger children are also expected to complete 15 minutes of reading instruction or phonics as well. My father comes over Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours to help me with this. He’s had to learn a lot in this process as well. After lunch we tackle Latin, history, and science. I have a big dry erase board where my kids are supposed to erase the subjects as they complete them. I have Latin vocab review and Latin written work in two different categories.

Sometimes, life gets in the way. Maybe it’s a child that needs to go to the emergency room on a Tuesday, or a funeral we need to attend in another state, or someone is having a particularly hard day and it derails everyone. What then? Then I remember what God has given me, my couple of loaves and fish sitting in my basket. I bring my love of learning, my curiosity, and my sense of humor to Jesus who multiplies those measly gifts and gets us through miraculously. My kids are not generally straight A students. Sometimes, they need to turn things in late, or get a zero, to ensure a greater good. I question whether CHA is the right fit for them. But then I come across a notebook full of my melancholic son’s great book notes, I hear my teenager tell me how grateful he is for his family, I listen as my elementary and middle school aged kids all recite the Charge of the Light Brigade, and I am told by my oldest daughter that her favorite book is Crime and Punishment. I remember what I learned in school and how I felt about my family at age 18 and what my favorite book was as a young adult (did I even have a favorite book?) and I realize my children, despite the craziness of this life, are getting a better education than I did, and they are happier people than I was for it.

I can’t give them this education on my own. I am humble enough to realize that. I realize that what I do give them is imperfect and that God’s grace is necessary to get us through the day. The people I have seen who are focused on making sure they get everything done and done perfectly generally do not last at CHA. I don’t judge the families that have decided to move on. I miss them but I don’t pretend to know what is best for them. I do know that I can’t educate my children without the other families at CHA, so I thank God for the ones that stay.

So, here I sit willing to face the difficulties tomorrow will bring with God’s help. With His Grace, I will keep moving forward. I might even get to those pots and pans before I need to make dinner all over again.

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Homeschooling and Sports by Stacy Baxter

What I Learned from Latin by Alumni Aaron Smith

Homeschooling is hard by Stacy Baxter

Our Trip To An Art Museum by Erika Adam

Grace and Pots and Pans by Sadie Peterson

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