East DFW News

Kaufman residents Tim and Rebecca Carpenter decided early to home-school their six children.

“We really weren’t excited about the public school system and where it’s going and what they’re teaching,” Tim told East DFW News.

Private school was too expensive, so they decided to home school.  

“We didn’t really know what we were getting into at first,” Tim said. “But it’s been a huge blessing for our family. We’ve fallen in love with home schooling and the benefits of it.”

Their oldest child is now 16.

Rebecca attended public schools and thought it would be OK to send their for their children there as well.

“But with our first born, I thought that was really going to be a long day for him to be gone from home,” she said. “I figured I had a college degree, I can teach him. We teach our kids so much from the time they’re born.”

For Rebecca, the most surprising aspect of home-schooling part was how much her children learned on their own.

“So the lessons don’t take all day,” she said. “We could focus on a few things for short periods of time and they could learn it.”

They started attending conferences with other home-schooling parents and participating in co-ops.

“You kind of form your own village,” said Rebecca.

Teaching home-schoolers is not difficult, she said.

“It’s the parenting that is the hardest,” she said. “Your kids are there all day. You’re teaching them discipline. I’m glad I’m there with my kids to teach them those things.”

Their efforts are paying off, with the oldest child succeeding in college-level classes at age 16.

He is attending classes at the local community college in Kaufman, earning dual college and high school credits.

Tim served as a private school teacher for 14 years and continues to teach one day a week at a small private school.

“One of the things I’ve noticed as a teacher, is that the more you teach the students to learn how to learn, the better they will be,” he said. “All the information is out there. It’s really about having the discipline to learn it and grow. We tried to train our son to be an independent learner.”

The state Senate district represented by Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) that includes Kaufman saw a 51.7% increase in the number of seventh- through 12-graders leaving public school campuses for home-schooling between 1997 and 2019, according to Texas Education Agency (TEA) data.

The Carpenters are happy with home schooling and do not want or need government help, they say. They do want the government to preserve their right to home school, they said.

“For me, it’s more about protection,” said Tim. “As long as they keep fighting for our rights to be able to home school, that’s the most important thing.”