Kate Schofield, mother of three, shared with us the story of her family’s educational adventure with the Well-Trained Mind Academy (WTMA). Read on to learn about Kate’s decision to homeschool Ann, McAllister, and Bear, and the impact homeschooling and WTMA have had on her family’s life. 

Discovering the Homeschooling Path

Kate, an initial skeptic of the value of homeschooling and what she considered to be its nontraditional approaches to education, found her interests piqued when a good friend of hers shared some of the benefits that her family was enjoying from living a homeschooling lifestyle. That friend also suggested that Kate read Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Trained Mind, and, to Kate’s surprise, the book strongly appealed to her need for a sense of order, structure, and rigor. So, Kate decided to try homeschooling for herself. In those early years, she relished the joyous moments of engaging her children in activities like building mummies from chickens (IYKYK) and immersing them in the wonders of medieval times through hands-on exploration. 

Flexibility and Adapting to Change

The transition to online classes at WTMA during middle school became a turning point for each of her children, and for Kate as a mother and educator. Class at WTMA gave the Scholfields the structure of an academically rigorous program along with the freedom of course selection and scheduling. It was also during this period, Kate emphasizes, that she began to truly understand how crucial it was to adapt the educational path to each child’s unique strengths and interests. From academic excellence to cultivating family bonds, homeschooling provided the flexibility for each child to thrive authentically.

While Ann, the eldest, excelled within the parameters of more traditional academic structures, and loved working her way through rigorous scholastic offerings like the Great Books sequence, Kate found that her middle child, McAllister, had a much different reaction to traditional educational approaches, even when offered in a homeschooling format. In fact, while Kate provided an array of options and flexibility for McAllister’s middle school years of homeschooling, academic work was not necessarily where he thrived. Instead, Kate shared that one of her greatest joys in homeschooling McAllister was in the bonds that he was able to build with his extended family – particularly his grandparents and great-grandparents – learning and spending time with them on days when other children might be sitting in a classroom and feeling disconnected from their families. These years, Kate asserts, were paramount to building up McCalllister’s sense of self and unique strengths in knowing who he is and how to enjoy the solitude of his own company – skills that are rare in teenagers these days. In fact, McAllister’s journey from homeschooling to enrolling in a public high school is a testament to the adaptability of homeschoolers. Kate radiates pride as she narrates McAllister’s leadership skills, success in sports and clubs, and social surety in the public-school environment, which she strongly attributes to the solid foundation that was built during his early homeschooling years. These unexpected twists underscore the importance of recognizing and nurturing each child’s individual path.

Online Learning and Strong Foundations

For Kate, there are many positives to the online learning experience for each of her children at WTMA. For Ann, academic rigor was a key takeaway from her time with the Academy, although so too were the impactful relationships formed with teachers who got to know Ann and her strengths both in and outside of the classroom. Now working through her undergraduate degree, Ann has told her mother that her first years of college, surprisingly, offered her less academic challenge than many of her WTMA classes had. For McAllister, taking classes online helped him to know more readily what he desires in his educational experience, and gave him a unique resolve to seek it out in a way that many teenagers have yet to build. And for Kate’s youngest, Bear, working through courses with the Well-Trained Mind Academy has given him a wonderful opportunity to socialize with students outside of his typical social circle. Many of Bear’s favorite in-class activities are the group ones, a preference that is often not shared among students in other learning environments. Kate also shares that classes at the Academy have provided some great incentives to Bear to get interested in topics that he might not otherwise pursue, such as reading a diverse list of books in his Reading for the Logic Stage classes and Summer Reading Clubs. These literature classes, perhaps because they encourage students to respond naturally via open discussion, have engaged Bear in his literary pursuits in a way that a class that is more traditionally oriented might not be able to. 

Empowering Students for the Future

Kate’s reflections on her students’ journeys resonate with the transformative power of homeschooling—cultivating independence, confidence, and a genuine love for learning. It’s not just about academic success; it’s about preparing students for life’s journey beyond the classroom. As Kate shared with us, her story is about more than just how she educated her children; it is about how they chose to educate themselves, too. 

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