Homeschoolers Start Year with Not Back to School Event

While back-to-school season dominates the ads, a homeschool group in Oklahoma kicked off their educational year with a Not Back to School celebration.

Comprised of families living near the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in northeastern Oklahoma, Tahlequah Homeschool welcomed nearly 60 parents and children for a potluck lunch and time for parents to share information about homeschooling.

“This kicks off our school year,” Tavia Fuller Armstrong told the Tahlequah Daily Press. “We welcome new homeschoolers and give them a chance to meet with veteran homeschoolers, and the kids get a chance to know each other. We have children here ages zero to 18.”

While the parents visited and discussed activities throughout the coming year, the children played games and proved stereotypes wrong.

“There is a misconception that homeschool children are not social,” Armstrong said. “You can see around here that they are anything but unsocial.”

With the beginning of a new academic year, the party also served as a wonderful reminder to all the parents of why they chose to homeschool in the first place.

“We decided when we moved to Oklahoma four years ago that we would homeschool [our 12-year-old daughter],” reflected organization member Edie Cogdill. “It allowed her to step back, and we could assess her strengths and weaknesses. She had called herself ‘dumb,’ and it broke my heart. Now she knows that she wasn’t. When a child has that ‘a-ha’ moment, their eyes light up and they get it. That is the most rewarding feeling. This has been a wonderful experience for us.”