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ABOUT US
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Rori Morrow-Firebaugn
Hello, I’m Rori Morrow-Firebaugn and I have been home educating
my children since 1986. Folks tend to call those of us that were ‘homeschooling’
back then pioneers, and I guess I believe that as I can honestly say that I see
many parallels between myself and the pioneers of old who crossed this country
to establish a new frontier. They experienced many trials and tribulations along
the way, including death, which I too have sadly experienced, and still lived to
tell about it. I would not trade one moment of this journey for anything; it was
worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Yes, a pioneer I may be, and I am proud to
count myself among them.
I
started teaching while living on Guam in 1982 and enjoyed it very much as the
environment there was very laid back allowing for a natural learning experience
to occur in the classroom. Ah, those were the days.
Four years later we were again stateside and living in eastern
Oregon
while my husband who had recently retired from the military, went to college,
and for the first time my sons were enrolled in public schools. Sadly though, we
soon discovered my
then youngest son was being used as a guinea pig for a master’s thesis and much
of the information gleaned by this psychology major violated our first amendment
rights, so we opted to remove them from what we felt were indoctrination
centers, no longer public schools. No freedom for natural learning there, so
when we were unable to locate a private school, we created our own, based upon
much of what I had previously experienced on Guam.
Now many years later, after my sons graduated, I adopted my two youngest
children and opted to home educate them as well. My daughter is now 21, married
with a son of her own and her younger brother, my youngest son is now 14 and
still at home getting his own natural education.
Along the way I too have been enjoying the benefits of re-educating
myself. I can now say that I have had the opportunity of attaining a classical
education in a natural setting, my home, along with my children and I must say
that I have very much enjoyed it.
In 2004 I met Alix at a book discussion group and was taken by her
effervescent personality, winning smile and dedication to her family. I
immediately felt a connection to her even though I was intimidated by her at the
same time. Thankfully I overcame my intimidation and we became fast friends,
along with our children. She moved to northern
California
in 2006, yet we have maintained a close relationship thanks to Yahoo Messenger
and the telephone. We have grown together in our belief that family and home
education go hand in hand; we both feel a strong desire to give back to the home
education community at large and thus Cedar Grove
Academy was established. Our
sincere desire is that by opening Cedar
Grove
Academy to the public, Alix and I can
extend to California
families the opportunity to provide their children that same pleasure of
attaining a natural education. Love of learning can be gained and held only when
children are allowed to experience it at their own pace and in their own way.
Our job as parents is to simply allow that to happen and Alix and I are both
advocates of this belief.
Alexandra Schmid
Hello, I am Alexandra Schmid and I have been home educating
my children since 2002. I have 3
children 12, 10, 8 and an adoptive daughter in waiting.
I began my home educating journey when my oldest son
was going into second grade; let me preface this with, I knew in my heart
I should take him out before 1st grade, but did not have the courage or support
to do so at that time. The catalyst with the public education system was that my
oldest son was reading at a 3rd grade level in kindergarten and the school
refused let him read books at his level in class because
it would make the other students feel bad about themselves and he could
not be placed in the 3rd grade classroom for reading because the school felt it
would cause ego issues with the older children.
Let me go back many years and reflect upon my previous years.
I have a B.S. in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition and a Masters in
Education. I taught at the
elementary level for 3 years and at the middle school level for 9 years.
I was completely indoctrinated into the ‘system’. Talk about an
inflexible way to learn, I thought there was only one way!
When I brought my children home, I did as all good teachers did. We had
English, math and then a 10 minute recess. We returned to have science, history
and writing drill and practice, then it was lunch.
A perfect school schedule, so I thought. The first few weeks were great.
Within weeks, we all ended up in tears every day all day. Everything I had
learned was not working, but why?
That is when I attended a home school discussion group. I was blown away
that there were other ways to learn.
My heart felt at home and my soul at peace when I heard about natural learning
and the progression it evolves over the years if you allow the process to
happen. From that moment on, I had a
paradigm shift and things began to change for the better in our home. I had so
many PSM’s (public school moments) and with the encouragement from other home
educating families, the wonderful journey unfolded before my eyes.
Along this journey I met my now wonderful and dear friend Rori.
The PSM’s started to become less frequent, and today 6 years later they
rarely surface. Along this road, I have been re-educating
myself in a natural setting, becoming inspired to further learn so many things
that I missed in a traditional setting.
In fact, it has become our family’s way of life. Our life is this
journey, and this journey has brought our family to a new level.
We were inspired to open Cedar Grove
Academy to help families
reach their full potential, their way,
at their pace so that a Love Of Learning continues throughout their
lives. That is natural learning.
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