This is the first question to answer before trying to understand all of the details of what homeschool is -because it can be soooooo many things. I love when someone asks me to tell them about homeschooling. It actually makes me laugh as I respond with the requirement of a week’s worth of time to scratch the surface. It is akin to someone asking you to describe your family’s life, style and purpose in 20 minutes or less.

Remember when you thought about marrying that amazing person God put in your way? The decision was not based on figuring it all out. The decision was based on an inner conviction that you are called to marriage with this person with whom you are willing to take a blind leap of faith setting goals and sorting through issues after you say I Do. Homeschool is much the same, but without the long term commitment because you can stop homeschooling just as quickly and easily as you begin homeschooling.

Fun Fact: More families are homeschooling than are attending private school, and our movement is no longer a quiet grassroots way of life, but a mainstream educational option understood and admired by most of society, but especially appreciated by colleges across the nation!

Each Option 3 association has its own personality based upon the director’s heart and passion for others through home education. Faithful Scholars is passionate about the success of our upcoming generations as well as the vibrant health of the parents training them up.

Faithful Scholars is based upon what I needed as a mom-teacher when we began homeschooling. Because of my need to hear a person in a leadership role who thoroughly understood homeschool law I worked with my father (a lawyer) to examine all aspects of what SC homeschool law is and is not. It is truly very broad, but must be followed and respected in order to maintain the lovely freedoms we currently enjoy. Following my mother’s penchant for small business, I worked to understand the unique nature of each family’s homeschool dynamic, determined to provide an enormous number of resources beginning with honest available communication and, most recently, Umbrella Skye. Helping families navigate through the rigors of life forming decisions as well as paperwork while providing helpful handholding and oversight needed in homeschooling, we created a service that goes beyond making you just a legal SC homeschooler! Faithful Scholars provides encouragement, expert advice, real-world answers, flexibility and kindness as well as documentation such as member letters/cards, DE and DMV permission, student transcripts, class ranking, graduation diplomas, and so much more!

Questions to ask an association you may be considering:

• How do you communicate with your member-families?
  • FS communicates by phone, email, Umbrella Skye, newsletter, private consult, workshops, & events
• How many people work with you to support your homeschool families?
  • FS has a team of 7 main assistants and 4 as needed assistants
• Do you have any faith requirements such as a statement of faith?
  • FS loves Jesus on a personal level. On a professional level, we welcome families of all faiths, backgrounds, and worldviews.
• Do you rank and build transcripts?
  • FS does.
• Can I reclassify my student under your assocation?
  • FS can, will, and does.
• Do you have a specialist for neuro-diverse children?
  • FS has lived this life, studied under specialists, and loves this population!
• Do you have a non-College Prep option to follow in high school?
  • FS does, but each transcript is built to be college ready.
• Do you offer workshops or assistance beyond your website?
  • FS does as often as asked for and able, or you can access our recorded seminars through your member login portal and Umbrella Skye.
• What is your educational pedagogy?
  • FS/Katie Bach uses Charlotte Mason classical, in a flexible child-focused approach blended with Waldorf philosophy. One of our main goals was for our children to have a wild and free childhood. After all, we are educating children. Play is the first method of learning, and ought never to be left out. 
  • That being said, we respect that education is not a one-size-fits-all, we are well-versed in the many styles and methods of home education and will work to support you as you build the homeschool that fits your family.
• What is your exit plan for your association when you retire?
  • FS My daughters and daughter-in-law will be taking over (2 are already in training).

The thought process toward deciding to homeschool is the usual approach of ‘what is homeschool?’ Well, that is easily answered. It is educating your child at home. The next question is ‘how does one homeschool?’ That one is not so easily answered as this is based upon the goals and gifts of each family as well as each child. It is not super complicated either. It is simply unique, meaning that it cannot be answered in 7 words. My shortest answer is to determine your pedagogy (pedəˌɡäjē/), also called your educational philosophy, approach, method, by talking with Faithful Scholars, parents within Umbrella Skye, parents in the grocery store towing children at 11am on a Wednesday, and reading books.

Your personal day by day homeschool rhythm and approach will be created through learning how you learn and what inspires you. Our children have unique learning styles which I postulate that you already know. Consider how you impart directions to each child. This is their learning style – auditory, visual, kinesthetic. This IS important, but a book that is perfect for your visual learner that does not interest you in the least will be projected through your presentation. Even if you add whipped cream and a cherry, a child can see right through to the blah, blah, blah. On the flip side, when you understand your pedagogy and combine it with a book that inspires you to reclaim your education, you will creatively unpack it in methods for any learning style can engage and run with.

This is a process, have I said that before? It cannot be completed in a cruising of sites, reading a few articles, mimicking a friend, or following a co ops lead. This is your in-home, personally grown educational philosophy and it germinates from deep within who you are, encompasses each member of your family and who they are, and weaves you together as a family who learns in such a specific manner that it cannot be exactly replicated. Do you hear me? There is no right way. There is no wrong way. There is your family’s best way!

Children are born ready for connection, which is learning— with the world around them, with nature, with family and with community. Most of all, they are created for a living relationship with God who is the creator of education. Your gift is to establish an engaging relationship with this child in order to equip them to best learn according to their unique make up. You have been building this relationship since conception. Homeschooling is simply leveling up the inspiration of education and the deepening of your relationship as a family unit.

• A Call to Brilliance by Resa Brown
  Ms Brown, a brilliant educator, writer, and philosopher invites us to ask: What is true, good, beautiful in education? Not simply what is efficient. It presses you toward cultivating pedagogies that form character and cultivate wonders from that which is uniquely and inately born into each of your children.

• Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
  This friendly guidebook draws out Mason’s vision of children as persons alive best served by daily interaction with nature, improving habits, and expanding knowledge through living ideas. Filled with transparent joy for learing, respectful of each family’s path, rich with quotes, and full of practical helps, CMC is a book that every homeschool parent should read.

• Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
  A joyful, readable interpretation of Mason’s ideas celebrating her freedom, integrity, and focus of living books. Levison helps mothers see how Mason’s principles can catch flame in daily life.

• Echo in Celebration by Leigh Bortins
  Bortins offers the “why” behind curriculum choices, especially classical and literature-rich education in a clear, consice, and quickly read book. It’s both philosophical and very accessible—wonderfully encouraging for moms overwhelmed by options.

• For the Children’s Sake by Susan S Macaulay
  A classic: a foundation of love for childhood, trust in the child’s mind, education as an art. It changed many a mother’s perspective from instruction to invitation.

• Girls and Boys Learn Differently by Michael Gurian
  Neuroscience, psychology, education: Gurian helps us understand differently-wired boys and girls so that teaching and learning can be more compassionate, more tailored, less frustrating.

• Home Education by Charlotte Mason
  One forefather of many modern homeschooling methods: Mason’s wisdom on the environment of childhood, habit, reading, and the formation of the soul—not just the mind.

• The Homegrown Preschooler by Lee & Richards
  Practical while philosophical. Filled with hands-on ideas for genuinely delightful childhood explorations. For mothers of littles longing to ground preschool in wonder, nature, and play.

• The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn
  Does pushing more, earlier, longer actually help? Kohn invites us to question the assumptions behind schooling orthodoxies. Refreshing for those who sense there might be a better way. Not homeschool theory, but a great book for parents considering a shift from traditional school to homeschool.

• The Liberal Arts Tradition by Clark & Jain
  A reminder that the ancient arts—grammar, logic, rhetoric, etc.—are not dusty relics but living tools to shape clear thinking, wise citizens, and morally grounded learners.

• A Literary Education by Emily Cook
  A guide that shows reading, discussion, narration—not as extras but as essentials! It challenges parents to aim not just for coverage, but for depth. Reading comprehension is required for life-long learning and leadership. This books is a must!

• Minimalist Homeschooling by David & Melissa Zaro Fagen
  Less is often more. This book whispers permission to stop over-planning, reject comparison (The Green Grass syndrome), and build rhythms around what matters to your family.

• Think Like a Teacher by Kevin Kim
  A mentor’s perspective: helps parents adopt reflective habits, see behind what we teach, think about pacing, interest, and wonder. Not just doing, but discerning.

• The Three R’s by Ruth Beechick
  Simplicity, clarity, and laying strong foundations. A timeless classic for mothers who want functional literacy, respect for the natural curiosity of children, and beauty without fluff. One of our key requirements for anything is life is the balance of beauty and function. Ruth Beechick is the queen of that balance.

• The Unschooling Manifesto by Maria Taviano
  For those drawn to freedom, trust, unschooling philosophy. Maria Taviano invites you to question what school is, how learning happens, what it means to parent in trust rather than fear, and educate the whole child as you live life rather than create a little public school in your kitchen.

• The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
  A rigorous, joyful roadmap for classical education—from kindergarten through high school. Schedules, resources, reading lists—but shaped by strong principles and high regard for the child’s mind. This remains an annual go-to source!