| I am a very satisfied homeschooling
parent with STAA. I have a daughter entering first grade. She
completed the "pre-first" program with St. Thomas. First, the best
thing, in my opinion about working with STAA is the wonderful staff.
STAA advisors put together a detailed packet of information specific
to your child's age and grade. The books have been fabulous. We
especially enjoyed the following: Professor Phonics, Handwriting
without Tears, Big Thoughts for Little People, and of course, all of
our religious Ed books. The fact that the program is catholic is
also a big plus for our family since we are people of faith. I thank
STAA for making this past year a great one for homeschooling. We are
ready for the next school year with the program! -- Anne from
Pennsylvania |
| We started homeschooling when our
oldest was in Kindergarten. We started with a very traditional
homeschooling curriculum with all the lesson plans and texts sent to
us. My oldest son and I struggled through the first two years of his
schooling battling over completing exactly what the lesson plans
suggested. It was a very difficult and trying experience for both my
son and me. After completing his first grade lessons, I did a
learning styles test through Mercy Academy with my son and my
daughter, who was to be starting Kindergarten. I came to the
conclusion that the traditional curriculum was not the way I wanted
to teach and not the best method for my children to learn. I looked
into alternative schools and methods. I came across St. Thomas
Aquinas Academy and the classical approach to education and thought
it would be more appropriate for my children. After the initial
assessment, I was very impressed with the information that my
advisor gathered from such a simple assessment. Yet, I was still not
willing to follow all of her suggestions and chose to do some
classes based on my own understanding of the children. I followed
the procedures for a home generated course plan and began the year.
I sensed that my advisor did not agree that this was the best option
(for math) that year, but she left it up to me. Half way through the
year, I realized that I had not chosen the most appropriate text for
my children. I changed again and taught the class free-style making
sure I covered all the necessary bases for both children. They both
did well, not only in math, but also in all their courses. This year
I decided to follow all of my advisors suggestions for all of their
classes. I am not adding anything, 'officially' to their studies
until the requirements are well on their way to completion. I
realized after having a bit of a melt down last year and sending an
email to St. Thomas saying that I was ready to load the kids into
the van and drop them off at the nearest school, that I was trying
to do too much. The guidance that I received from my advisor helped
me to put the school year into perspective and helped me to
understand that my children are not perfect because they are
homeschooled and they do not have to outshine every public schooled
child out there. The beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility with
which we can educate our children. They don't have to be concerned
with whether they are working "at, below, or ahead" of grade level.
They can learn at their own pace without judgment and without fear.
The most rewarding event that has come out of following the
curriculum at St. Thomas Aquinas is the fact that my husband has
seen the tremendous results of the children enjoying school work,
not even realizing that it is school work. My husband had not
supported my decision to homeschool and his feelings were confirmed
with the struggles of the first two years. This past year, he became
an integral part of the homeschooling. He began talking to the
children about what they learned that day, he took on the teaching
of their science course and discussed what they were learning in
history with them. I am so excited about this coming year because we
are studying Ancient Egypt for history and my husband has already
decided that he will teach it. Also, science is the human body and
the books that we are using have already excited the children. What
little boy would not be excited about a book titled: "Blood and
Guts." This is probably too much information, but I am very pleased
with the changes that have occurred in my children and my family
because of the change to St. Thomas. I am impressed with the level
of support when needed and the lack of interference when not. Thank
you for all that you do. -- Irene from PA (July 2006) |