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Hello, I’m Kerry Overa, host of the Catholic Homeschool Moms. I’m excited to share with you the exciting journeys told through the perspective of homeschooling moms like us. We’ll talk about our Catholic faith, our families, what we’ve done and what we’ve failed to do. Yes, there are obstacles and challenges and how we deal with them are in there too. You can see other women who will inspire you on your homeschooling journey and sign up for emails at http://www.catholichomeschoolmoms.com/. Everyone has a story to tell. Connect with us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/catholichomeschoolmoms?fref=ts and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/catholichsmom, and on Google Plus, https://plus.google.com/112313747003690863301/posts.
Today, I’m interviewing Amelia Bentrup. Amelia has a Master Degree in Reproductive Physiology of Dairy Cows, a very interesting field of study. Her and her husband met in graduate school. They’ve been married for 14 years and have 4 children, 14, 10, 7 and 2. They’ve been homeschooling since her oldest turned Kindergarten including homeschooling through several long distance moves. Amelia loves to read, hike, exercise and write. Currently in 
http://www.onecatholicmama.com/.
Amelia will share about the topic of reproductive physiology of dairy cows. Since she loved animals, Amelia thought that she wanted to be a Vet while in undergraduate school. However, after working for a while, she realized that wasn’t for her. Two week after graduating she got married. It was a fun thing to study but she’s glad to not have to be feeling cow ovaries anymore.
What led Amelia to homeschooling was, while in college, she did an internship at Plymouth Plantation in a barn over the summer. Her mother was homeschooling her youngest sister who was from Jamaica. Amelia stayed with a family in Plymouth, MA who was a homeschooling family. This was exposure to homeschooling. Within their church, they met a couple of families that were homeschooling so to her, it just seemed like a natural philosophy of parenting, to homeschool her 4 children. When her oldest was pre-school age, she didn’t think she was ready for school so Amelia homeschooled her and then it became natural just to keep doing that from then on.
She joined a lot of homeschool groups so she had a lot of support from her community from the very beginning. It wasn’t completely foreign to her family.
When they first got married, Amelia and her husband lived in Kentucky where they had their first child. Since then they’ve moved a few more times (Tennessee, New Hampshire & Rhode Island) because of her husband’s job and to be closer to family. Her first homeschooling was done in Rhode Island for 5-6 years. After that they moved to Florida so that her husband can pursue law school for 3 years. He then decided to take the BAR in Virginia and then moved to Indiana. From Rhode Island through all the different states they’ve lived in Amelia was homeschooling her children. They had experienced all the different requirements from all the different states and they saw that with homeschooling it was actually easier for the children to transition from state to state because they didn’t have to switch schools in the middle of the semester. They did have to meet new and different friends throughout their moves but their education was not disrupted by having to switch to different schools. Homeschooling was constant in their lives. While they were traveling they usually take time off from formal schooling but sometimes in the car Amelia would put a book on for them to listen to.
Amelia’s homeschool goes all year round. There’s not specified summer break but they do take time off on as needed basis. They time off during their moves, any special family events and sometimes they just take time off for a mental break. Her goal has been to fit in school within 3-4 days during the week. They generally start their new school year in the first of July and finish at the end of May. June is a low key month to finish up some last things or visit family.
As for their daily schedule, Amelia and her oldest exercise together. When they’re done, her 7th grader will start on her books and see what she can do on her own. The 10-year-old is in 4th grade and start of her school books and do what she can on her own. During the morning the 2 older ones are working on their own while Amelia is with her 1st grader. She normally goes back and forth between the 1st and 4th graders. Her 7th grader is pretty much independent and Amelia just checks on some of her works that need to be graded or if she needs any extra help but she doesn’t spend so much one on one time with her academically anymore. They pretty much get started in the morning without Amelia so that she can work on getting some of her personal things done before she can focus on their school work. They usually finish around lunch time but sometimes the 7th grader takes a bit longer because she likes to take a little more breaks during her school work. Several years ago Amelia was mostly full-time at all times helping with their school work but now that they’re independent her schedule has changed.
It turned out that Kerry’s and Amelia’s children a very close in age so they are going through very similar schedules, timings and issues.
The most challenging issue for Amelia was her impatience and she feels that it’s hard for her to explain things to others when she’s having a hard time understanding it herself. She’s looked into https://www.khanacademy.org/ and or Google, find a video or anything to explain it better. Patience is a daily struggle but she’s learned and taught her kids to take a step back before they get frustrated.
Amelia’s 2 main motivations are her children and other homeschoolers. She feels that homeschooling has added to her relationship with them since they are together throughout the day. It’s helped her where she feels there’s more communication with them especially now that they’re growing up. As for the other homeschoolers, Amelia belongs to a few co-ops and different groups. She feels that the other kids in those groups are good influences for her kids and she likes that makes friends with the families as well. They have been great support for her and her kids.
If Amelia could hit the rewind button, one of the things that she would change: There’s so much to choose from but the one thing would be that she would not have worried so much about teaching her oldest how to read when she was younger. She would have waited when she turned 5 or 6. They’ve settled on a new curriculum now with the younger ones but her oldest was her guinea pig so she had to try on so many different curriculums. So if there’s anything Amelia would have changed was, she would have taken it a bit easier on her oldest and not pushed her to do so much academic work so young. She would be more relaxed if she was to do it over again.
The one word to describe her family life, Amelia would use “chaotic”. Generally they’re pretty close as a family. It is chaotic at times but it’s fun too. They’re chaotic and close.
For extracurricular activities, since her husband is an avid chess player, her kids have picked it up and are really into it now. The older 3 participate in chess tournaments. They practice and study together. They also started with some projects with 4H and that’s fun. They also participate in the homeschool co-ops. Her oldest is part of the youth group at their church and also at a local friary. Piano lessons are in there too. Chess is great for math and logical skills.
Since Amelia and her family has moved so much they have a particular devotion to St. Joseph. They do a lot of St. Joseph novenas. He’s pretty much the standard saint that they’ve turned to. St. Joseph and St. Jude are the standard saints that they pray to. They also go to mass on First Friday’s usually with their homeschool groups. They also make it a point to go to confession once a month and take the older kids who can do it along as well. She feels that confession is very important to them.
Homeschooling can be great. It’s bumpy at times but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the wrong thing or even the right thing for everyone. There’s been times that doubt would creep in but trust that God is leading you a certain way. Take it on a child by child and year by year basis. Always be open to other possibilities that may be more helpful for your children. Just take it a year at a time and see where it leads you and your family. Just find out each states’ requirements to do things right.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s show head on out to http://www.catholichomeschoolmoms.com/ and see the faces of the women who will inspire you on your homeschooling journey. Sign up for emails and get direct access and links to information shared in today’s podcast. Everyone has a story to tell. Connect with us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/catholichomeschoolmoms?fref=ts and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/catholichsmom, and on Google Plus, https://plus.google.com/112313747003690863301/posts. I can’t wait to meet you!
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