Ch. 5: EXPLORE

The new school year had started with less drama than Oscar and Mildred had expected. The four children enjoyed not having to get up at six am for the school bus. They still got to see the friends they had made in public school, and every child found a corner of the house to do their schoolwork. Violet found that she did not enjoy sitting in the schoolroom. She would put in her earbuds to listen to music before starting on her work. Her mother insisted on music without words so she wouldn’t be distracted, and she would spread out her workbooks, textbooks, and other school materials on the floor of her bedroom or in the living room. Here, she would work on her math problems, do a journal entry on the most recent book she was reading for English, answer history quiz questions, or read a recent scientific discovery her mother had found worthy of a group discussion. They would then discuss it with her brother, James. He enjoyed using the table and desks in the school room. He would sit with his workbooks and diligently work for an hour or more without disruption. Lilly and Rose tried to do their school work sitting next to each other, but one would pull the other’s hair or claim the other was copying their work. Mildred found it easier to have one sit in the school room, and if the weather was nice, another could sit on the screened-in porch and work while the ceiling fan whirred away. When the weather was inclement, the twins would be assigned seats on opposite sides of the school room. On the pain of losing television privileges later in the day, they would be sure to focus on their work and not distract each other. 

It wasn’t all workbooks and sitting around the house regarding their new educational regime. Oscar would take the children on field trips on the weekends to nature centers, historical museums, and other places of interest, such as a local farm, to learn about how pollinators were vital to the local food supply. This would give Mildred a chance to do a bit of freelancing, read a book in peace, or simply nap. Oscar was the children’s new math teacher. Mildred would joke with her husband, saying if a partner at an accounting firm couldn’t teach his children basic arithmetic, how could he successfully manage other people’s money? He would then roll his eyes playfully and ask her if she’d ever heard of Microsoft Excel or a calculator. After these field trips, there would be a debrief where they would all discuss their favorite thing about said field trip and/or something they learned. After the four children had adjusted to their new routine, their parents decided it was safe to throw something else into the mix. They were going to start attending a weekly co-op with other homeschooled children. The group was called EXPLORE. The co-op’s purpose was to expose children to the arts through hands-on experiences. The four classes that comprised the weekly CO-OP meetings included art, music, drama, and history. Some years, they would focus on a particular period; others, there would be a theme. One year, the theme was the arts, music, history, and drama of Appalachia. Another had been focused on the Baroque period. Oscar and Mildred thought it was important that their children were exposed to the arts, especially in a collaborative environment. Oscar enjoyed learning to play the piano, and Mildred was encouraged to write poetry as a child. It was a hobby she still enjoyed and found significant meaning in. They wanted their children to have the same opportunities. 

Lilly was worried about attending EXPLORE For the first time. Out of all four children, she had the most crippling social anxiety. Her parents often told her that meeting new people was a wonderful experience. They peppered in the regular stranger danger warnings. For example, don’t go anywhere with strangers you don’t know. If you get separated from mom and dad, look for a mom with little kids if you can’t find a police officer. Lilly knew meeting new people could lead to new friends and positive experiences. The fear of the unknown paralyzed Lilly too often, which was the case on this Tuesday when she and her siblings were starting their new co-op. She had barely eaten any breakfast, and Mildred could tell she was stressed. She came over to where she was still sitting at the table and sat down next to one of her youngest daughters. “ New experiences can be scary,” she said gently. “ Why don’t we take some deep breaths so that we can enjoy our day?”. They took some deep breaths before they all got in the car to head off to their new educational experience. 

Lilly was skeptical as soon as she stepped out of the van and walked onto the private school campus used for EXPLORE. The Montessori school that the co-op rented space from was located in an old church that they had bought when the church could not keep up with their mortgage payments. After arriving, they were corralled into the church gymnasium until everyone had arrived. Once it reached 8:30 am, the different grades went off to their first rotation. Lilly’s first class of the day was history. Her history teacher, Mr. Nox, was a middle-aged gentleman with a buzz cut and round glasses, and he had a habit of pushing up the bridge of his nose. Once the ten children had found their seats, he described what they would be learning for the whole school year. “ Good Morning, everyone.” he smiled as he stood before them, addressing the group. “ Last year, we focused on the history and culture unique to Appalachia, and we also learned about the different groups that have inhabited Appalachia over the centuries. This year, we will explore specifically the parts of Europe where settlers came from who settled in this region. We will focus on the Irish, Scottish, and German history and culture since these groups were the predominant European nationalities that made this region home. For the first part of the school year, we will be learning about the history of Germany, right up until the industrial revolution”. No one in the class would ask why they weren’t going to focus on the history of Germany up until World War II. An inquisitive sixteen-year-old would ask this question later in the day and give Mr. Nox an impassioned lecture on the importance of never forgetting the ills mankind can do to one another. An exhausted but patient Mr. Nox explained to the concerned activist to be that the co-op, in fact, was going to dedicate the whole of the next year to the modern period, and there would be extensive coverage of world war two and the atrocities committed during the war. This was not an empty promise; the co-op did indeed plan for that time to be the focus of the group’s studies during the next school year. At this explanation, the student was calm and accepted the packet of assigned reading that was to be done before the following Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Lilly was in her last class for the day, art. An older woman with glasses and gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, Ms. Dusty, described the different art projects they would be attempting in the upcoming year. Ms. Dusty explained what Pictish culture was and how they would replicate the shapes drawn on stone by the Scottish using small wooden sticks to trace similar patterns into clay. “ Now we’re going to break into pairs to work on our designs by drawing them on paper.” At this, Lily started to get a bit nervous. She would be paired with someone she hadn’t met before. Ms. Dusty continued, “ As you and your partner work on your designs, please try to give each other at least two compliments on their design”.

EXPLORE had a faith-based component to their core ethics, and they heavily prioritized treating everyone with kindness and teaching their students kindness at every opportunity. Lily was brought back to the present by Ms. Dusty’s voice: “ Rachel, why don’t you pair up Lily since you both are new to the co-op this year?”. Rachel was a young girl with light brown hair and green eyes. She was at least a head taller than Lilly. She got up from her chair in the back of the classroom and took an empty seat next to Lily, whose seat was more toward the center of the room. Once she had sat down, Lily smiled at Rachel, “ My name is Lilyl.” Rachel smiled back. “ It’s nice to meet you too; I didn’t know you were new to the co-op too.” Lily tilted her head in thought before responding, “ This is my first year being homeschooled; my parents decided this school year to take my other siblings and me out of school and homeschool.” Rachel’s eyes got big in wonder. “ You’ve been to public school?”. Lily and her siblings would find out over time that for their fellow homeschoolers who had never been to public school, their experience in public school would be a point of fascination for their peers. She and her siblings would often be peppered with questions about their public school experiences. Lily shrugged her shoulders in response to Rachel’s curiosity. “ It’s just like EXPLORE, five days a week, and you learn math and science.”  

They passed the rest of the class asking each other questions and discovered they shared a love of animals. Rachel had never been to public school. Her parents had moved to North Carolina because her mom had gotten a new job at a local hospital. Her mom was a doctor, and her dad did something with computers that Rachel couldn’t quite explain. Once the class had ended, Ms. Dusty gathered the sketches and escorted the children back to the gymnasium so their parents could pick them up. The two girls continued talking and laughing until Rachel’s dad arrived to pick her up. “ I’ll see you next week. Do you want to sit together again?” Rachel asked. A warm feeling flooded Lilly’s body. “ Yes, I’d like that.” Rachel smiled and waved as she headed for the door. “See you next week.” As she waved back, a thought occurred to Lily: maybe EXPLORE wouldn’t be so bad after all, and maybe homeschooling and the new people she would meet along the way would be enjoyable and fun to get to know.