At Age 17, Our Daughter, Heather, was Teaching Dance at Two Studios

CTT Completions

At age 17, our daughter, Heather, was teaching dance at two studios, working as a certified Pilate's instructor and opening shows for national artists as a performing dancer. Is there any connection between these accomplishments and her completing Connect The Thoughts ? Without a doubt.

Five years ago, I began home schooling Heather. She had been attending a private school with a poor curriculum and I saw the opportunity for educational excellence being wasted. And, while Heather loved her academics, she was also extremely interested in the arts and wanted to pursue these interests more seriously than just a few hours after school.

The biggest challenge we faced in our first year of home schooling was finding a quality curriculum. I was able to piecemeal together fairly-good courses from numerous sources, yet there lacked richness and continuity in the overall program.

At the start of our second year, I discovered Connect The Thoughts through one of our curriculum sources. I read the course description for Pre-History and Science Basics and instantly knew this was our answer. I called Steven to order the materials and thus began our four-year journey, which would not only educate Heather, but our entire family, including my 93 year-old mother-in-law who had majored in history in college and found the material fascinating.

From Pre-History through American Civics and Science Basics through Chemistry, Heather worked furiously and consistently building her knowledge base and understanding. This was the point where I really saw her individuality and personal creativeness soar. She had been teaching and performing dance already for quite some time, but this is where she broke away from the pack.

The Connect The Thoughts process and method of learning provided an understanding of life and personal control over her environment, which allowed her to develop confidence and certainty of her place in the world and how she could contribute to make it better. She was empowered to challenge herself to excel in the areas of her own interests. Compare this to both public and private schools, where their curriculum is "god" and senior to the student's own ideas and interests. Our daily scheduling revolved around Heather's activities of choice, never around school itself. Her personal interests and goals were always the hub around which her life revolved. Thus, school provided a purpose and she could always find a practical application in her studies to her daily life.

One of our favorite courses was Biology and Human Health, to which, because I am a nutritional consultant, I added a unit on nutrition. The films on this course were particularly outstanding and we all studied them alongside Heather, as we did nearly all of the stellar films in the entire curriculum.

The Connect The Thoughts curriculum succeeds at exposing the student to a wide range of views and knowledge and some of the greatest scientists and historians that have existed. Both my husband and I studied Carl Sagan in college and could not have been happier to have Heather do the same. It succeeds in engaging the student in the learning process and applying this knowledge to their personal life. In fact, it is so successful in this aspect, that my husband and I both have re-discovered personal goals and purposes of our own, which have been lying dormant and unfulfilled, which we were able to re-kindle through this empowering educational process. This is an aspect of home schooling that is over-looked yet desperately lacking in our current society. Kudos to Steven for providing this opportunity to children.

Though I worked furiously to provide social outlets and opportunities to accompany the home school setting, Heather nonetheless occasionally said she wished she had experienced a normal high-school setting simply for the social interaction. That is, until she accompanied her friend's younger brother to his first day of high school. That night she told me she was so happy she never went to a public high school and thus ended the delusion that she had missed something vital in her life. To the contrary, she constantly comments on how much she loves her life, her work and her scope of knowledge.

And last but certainly not least, the joy I have experienced from being able to spend so much quality time with my daughter and getting to know her so well throughout these five years has been worth its weight in gold. No evening or weekend activity exists that could take the place of this daily sharing of life and the dedication that a parent exhibits to their child through this home schooling process. It is the foundation of our commitment and love and stronger than anyone but a home schooling parent could know. I consider myself the luckiest mom in the world. My everlasting gratitude to Steven for giving me this gift. He is a very special friend.