Heritage Article From The Courier
By Teresa Black
Staff Writer

A co-operative effort
Christian home schoolers pull together to pool experience

ELGIN — When Pam Lance began home schooling her daughter five years ago, the girl was in third grade and the course material was relatively manageable.

As time wore on, however, Lance said challenges cropped up as the academics became more advanced. Her Spanish skills, for one, had become a bit rusty.

So she takes part in a new teaching "co-op" at Elgin Evangelical Free Church on Mondays, where her daughter takes Spanish and science classes with other children who typically spend their days learning at home.

"This is to enhance what we do," Lance said.

The Heritage Home School Workshops started last month under the organization of Cheryl Janik, an Elgin mother of seven who had been inspired by a similar Christian-driven program in Rockford and others cropping up around suburban Chicago.
Parents pool their teaching resources and recruit instructors to supplement schooling at home with mini-courses such as writing, world history, drama and physical education that meet once a week.

Dozens of children swarmed through hallways and classrooms at the Big Timber Road church after lunch Monday, where Heritage rents space for a nominal fee. Girls in pink leotards trotted to ballet as older students headed to a lab-oriented science course.

In the month since classes started, 154 students have registered from places spanning Bartlett to Algonquin, Janik said. The "intense workshops" allow for group problem-solving or special projects that might be difficult to do alone at home, such as dissecting pigs, Janik said.

"Not all moms want to teach every subject, or are equipped to teach every subject," said Janik, who herself instructs a physical education class for middle and high school girls.

The workshops are not a school, she stressed, and parents must remain on site.

'Statement of faith'
The reasons why participating parents home school in the first place vary. Some want one-on-one interaction with their children. Others speak about curbing outside influences and peer pressure that students can be exposed to at public and private schools.

What they share, however, is the Christian faith. All families are interviewed before registration to make sure they agree with a nondenominational "statement of faith" outlining certain core tenets, Janik said, such as "we believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God."

"If they're not in agreement, it's not a good fit," Janik said.

Religion works its way into the workshops, from formal Bible study in the mornings to a creationism-based curriculum in the science classes. A workshop for sixth- through ninth-graders is called "Exploring Creation with General Science."

The pairing comes naturally for some parents, who say faith was part of why they started to home school in the first place.

"We thought it was important to basically pass down our values to our children," said Lars Berntson, a Kingston father of five who works in the food business. "The question is, do you want your kids to be more influenced by kids their own age, or more influenced by their parents?"

Four of Berntson's children attend the Elgin co-op after years of driving to the Rockford one, Hallstrom Home School Workshops, at Temple Baptist Church. Similar co-ops have popped up in Crystal Lake, Arlington Heights and Rochelle, Janik said.

Unique for its offering
While coalitions serving home-schooling families are not unusual, like several in the Fox Valley that facilitate field trips or arts enrichment, Janik said Heritage was unusual locally for offering academics.

The fees are relatively small, especially compared with private schools. Each weekly session runs about $2 to $5, with families paying teachers directly. Registration and cleaning fees are extra.

The program is not a money maker, Janik said.

"This is definitely a ministry," she said. "It's not a business."

With other co-ops attracting upward of 500 families, Janik said she is open to letting Heritage grow. The center was the product of a vision she had six years ago to bring this type of co-op home schooling to Elgin.

Initially, she expected to only have about 60 to 90 students, but enrollment already is about double that number.

"I knew that there was a need for families to come together for support," Janik said. "I'm open to what God has for me."