Interview with Andre & Nika Meeks

Ages: 36 & 34
Ages of Children : 11 & 7
Occupation: Small Business Owners

Why and when did you decide to homeschool your children?

We decided to homeschool our children for numerous reasons but the main reasons were that we weren’t satisfied with the private school education they were receiving. Teachers spent more time and energy on discipline for things like socializing than actually empowering the students. We’d had enough of the old school method as well as all of the homework with no real sign of knowledge to be applied. My son was promoted to 2^nd grade 11 days into the last school year but after testing him myself, he doesn’t know many of the things he’s proficient in according to his last report card. It’s like they were being programmed to test instead of growing and learning organically. We have also experienced bullying and that impacted the entire family. We made the decision over this past summer break. Registration fees were paid but 6 weeks before school began we emailed the principal advising that we wouldn’t be returning.

Describe your homeschool in three words.

New, growing and free

What’s your goal as a home educator?

Our goal is to grow daily in knowledge with our children. This chapter in our journey isn’t just about teaching them academically. We’re hoping that we all grow spiritually, emotionally, and mentally from homeschooling. We run our business from home so our children have an opportunity to receive hands-on experience in running a small business. We include them in as much as we feel they can handle. We hope to raise thinkers and not followers. We want them to be completely comfortable and free to do something that’s different from the majority.

What’s your proudest homeschool moment?

It would have to be when my son added fractions for the first time using bacon slices while he was cooking breakfast with his dad.

How has homeschooling benefited your family?

We get to spend more time together. We have weekly meetings to go over any tweaks that we may need to make and we try to structure them in a way that will benefit our children once they become the entrepreneur and chemist they wish to be. We are reading more books! We’re discussing many, many different topics. And the most drastic change so far is that homeschooling has made us focus intensely on using our brains more and using our devices less.

What would you say to someone who may be contemplating homeschooling?

Stay focused and true to what you believe is best for your family regardless of anyone’s opinion. We truly are our children’s first teachers. We taught them to speak, read and many other things. Why can’t we teach them to be productive, loving, respectful adults that are fluent in reading, writing, science and math?