The Circle is Stronger with More Family and Friends

Katherine Ahrens is a 2018 What Homeschooling Has Helped Me Achieve
Essay Contest participant!

Homeschooling has been a wonderful opportunity for me and my family, enabling us to achieve things which we could not have otherwise.

It has allowed me to spend more time with my family and friends. My family has had the opportunity to attend daily Mass, afternoon Adoration, and a Catholic co-op. I have had the opportunity to take dual credit classes and a logic and basic apologetics class through the Catholic co-op. It has sheltered me from the harmful environment of the public school system, and given us a circle of Catholic homeschooling friends.

Homeschooling has given me a healthy environment to grow up in. It has also given me opportunities to grow spiritually and mentally, as well as enabled my family to grow closer to one another and collect a circle of wonderful friends.

I have been able to spend more time with my siblings, parents, extended family, and friends. By not having most of each day consumed with attending school and completing homework, I am able to take more time to form bonds with my siblings—especially the newest edition, a five-month-old, Monica.

I have been able to take more time to help my mom out with my younger siblings, and have a closer bond with them. We have also been able to have more regular visit with our friends, attending a park day on Fridays.

Because we homeschool, my family has had greater opportunity for spiritual activities. We can attend daily Mass at our church, and afternoon Adoration. The older children—including myself—can attend service projects without having to worry about over the weekend homework or scheduling around school.

We, additionally, are able to attend a Friday co-op—CCM, Classically Catholic Memory—which provides foundations upon which we can build a better understanding of our regular curriculum.

Homeschooling has allowed me to take advantage of opportunities which would not otherwise be available to me. I have been able to take dual-credit courses through the local community college: better preparing me for college. Through our Catholic co-op, I have taken a logic class to give me a better foundation for making a good argument. This class has also given me a basic start to understanding apologetics, how to defend our rich Catholic Faith, and how to have a religious argument. It has also given our family the ability to visit family members who are sick during the school year without falling drastically behind.

Through our homeschooling community, we have met people who have become some of our closest friends. We have a plethora of good, Catholic, friends who have supported us in times of need, and whom we have also been privileged to assist. It has provided us with a healthy mental and spiritual environment to grow up in, with minimal bad influences; unlike the mental and spiritual dangers within the public schooling system.

By homeschooling, I am able to avoid the pressure towards sin which public schools provide. I have not been put under the peer pressure of a bad friend, or been put under direct temptation to fall into the sins which many public schooled children often are pressured to commit.

Homeschooling has provided me with a strong community of faith and helped better prepare me for college and success both mentally, spiritually, and in the physical world.

I enjoy having such good Catholic friends who I can see often. I would never trade my relationships with my siblings for anything, and am very glad to be so close to them. I am also very appreciative of the way homeschooling has enabled me to grow both mentally and in my faith.

I am very glad that I am homeschooled.

About Katherine Ahrens

Katherine Ahrens - Through homeschooling, Katherine has enriched her faith, grown closer to her family and friends, and taken dual credit courses at the community college. In addition to these opportunities to grow spiritually and mentally, she says that homeschooling has provided her a healthy environment in which to grow up. It has also given her more time to form bonds with her siblings—especially Monica, the newest edition in her large family.