Ft Worth Times

LeAnn and Darrel Russell decided to home school their children before they had children.

The Russells live in Springtown, a small town about 20 miles west of Fort Worth. LeAnn said she grew interested in home schooling in 1985 as a Texas Tech University student working on a bachelor’s of science degree in education.

“We were in premarital counseling class. In this class we had to talk about a plethora of subjects pertaining to marriage, family and life choices. Each week we would be given a topic, we would then have to go home and study about what we believed about that subject and then get together the next week with our fiancé and talk about our answers and make a decision to how we were going to handle that situation once married,” she said. “One of those questions was how will you school your children. For me, I thought it was an easy question, I’m going to school to be a teacher, I will work at a private school and my children will go to the same school, then when they graduated, I would probably move to a public school where I would make more money.”

LeAnn attended public schools as a child. She had never heard of home schooling, but Darrel was interested in educational options.

“He shared that he did not see any place in the Bible where we were supposed to put our children in school, but we were to teach them at our side all day. So we started our journey to find out more about this mysterious thing called home schooling,” LeAnn said. “Little did we know that it would be five years before we would have a child. We both finished our degrees and I went on to get a master’s of education, graduating six months pregnant with our first child. By that time, I was pretty set on schooling our children at home and then returning to the school system.”

She planned to have three children; her husband wanted four. They ended up with seven across 17 years, their current ages ranging from 13 to 30.

“We have seven children that have always been home-schooled. Five of them have graduated and we have two left at home,” she said. “I have also home-schooled my younger brother, he is just under 16 years younger than me and when he was going into the eighth grade my parents pulled him out and I home-schooled him; at this time I had two babies. Later, I also schooled another young lady who needed some individual attention, for her last two years of school. So I have had seven students graduate out of our home, with two still working away.”

LeAnn noted this is their 29th year as home-school educators.

“Wow, that makes me feel old,” she said. “We hope to be finished with our children in 2027. Then on to the grandchildren."

LeAnn said she uses “an eclectic mix of curricula,” with different vendors for various subjects, which she adjusts to each child's needs. 

“I have children with dyslexia and children who read before they were 3 years old. I have students who excel at math and students who struggle. I have visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetic learners, so I try to teach them where they learn best,” she said. “And I try to mix a variety of options into all their learning so even if they are auditory learners, they are still challenged with some visual projects. I endeavor to teach my children leadership, responsibility, logic and a good work ethic. So I have adult children who are leaders, responsible, logical and have a good work ethic.”

LeAnn said she has found great success in utilizing various methods to help students learn.

“When I was in school, I must admit I hated history. Memorizing dates and names that had no value to me was boring and burdensome,” she said. “But in our home we use a curriculum as a backbone or skeleton and we use real or some call them living books, biographies, autobiographies, nonfiction books and the internet to really delve into history, to get to know the characters, story and lives of the people who made history.

“My children all love history and for most it is their favorite subject. We try as much as we can to go back to the original source to study history," she said. "Yes, we read stories and people telling about what happened, but if we can find an original document to back it up, that is all the better.”

The Russells have included extracurricular activities as well, as all the children participate in sports and other activities.

“Some play in sort of cooperative sports, where we get together once a week and play soccer or basketball, etc. And I’ve had some that played on sports teams,” LeAnn said. “My second son, Jonny, was quite the baseball player and he played on a team for all of his high school years that was very competitive and we drove all over a three-hour radius to take him to games. A daughter who played volleyball and her team went to and won at nationals.”

All three Russell daughters participated in a character and leadership development Christian scouting organization called American Heritage Girls, and their youngest daughter attended a leadership event, being part of the host team in 2020. Her older sister joined the team last year.

“We are members of a home-school support organization called Texas Home School Coalition and we enjoy doing activities with them. We enjoy all the activities that are hosted during their convention, their Capitol Days at our State Capitol and being kept up-to-date on all things home schooling through their correspondence,” she said. “We have also hosted government clubs through their Rangers Government club program. Another highlight for my children for the last 13 years has been Patriot Academy. Patriot Academy is a mock legislative process and leadership training ground. It is realistic and world class specializing in applied civics with a biblical, historical and constitutional foundation.”

They have been involved in a variety of home-school support groups and cooperatives and now lead a support group that started with about 27 families. It now has more than 250.

“We have started our own support group and served on the board of a couple of others. My husband is really gifted at organization and structure, so he is good at helping to set structure up in organizations,” LeAnn said. “I have taught a variety of classes at different co-ops. General science, physical science and biology, art and creative crafts, money management and economics, geography and geometry, and lots and lots of government.

“The last couple of years I have taught a course for dual credit that was a mix of moot court, government and apologetics for three hours college government credit and a CLEP (college-level examination program) prep course for American government,” she said. “My family and I enjoy participating in co-ops and have hosted them in our home as well. It gives me the opportunity to teach outside my four walls which feeds my love of teaching and it gives my children some additional accountability and opportunity for growth and fellowship.”

LeAnn said she has witnessed numerous changes over three decades of teaching.

“We used to feel the need to wear uniforms when we went out during the day, we were nervous when someone knocked on the door and we were anxious when we went out during the day,” she said. “More people home-schooled for religious reasons and we were often asked about socialization. Now, especially this year, many who never dreamed of home-schooling are giving it a try and many will never go back because they love it. Now you have so many more options for curriculum and for classes online and in person.”

The Texas Home School Coalition reports a substantial growth in families choosing home schooling since the pandemic struck in early 2020.

“Early numbers indicate that the growth in homeschooling nationwide and in Texas due to Covid-19 is substantial,” the THSC website states. “A recent survey from Real Clear Opinions found that 40% of registered voters were more likely to enroll their children in a homeschool or a virtual school after the coronavirus."

“A survey from Gallup found that the number of families reporting their child would be home-schooled had doubled from 5% in 2019 to 10% in 2020,” according to the coalition. “Applied to Texas, Gallup’s data would translate to more than 670,000 home-school students in Texas and more than $7 billion in savings to the state per year from students who the state was not paying to education in public school.”

LeAnn said successful home-schooling families have set good examples, while relying on instructional methods that worked well in the past.

“We all know that many of our Founding Fathers and some of the greatest scientists and mathematicians were home-schooled, but then it sort of became taboo, but now we have some modern-day proof that it can be done well and that it can be the best environment for learning for both the student and the teacher,” she said. “I have no doubt that I have learned more teaching my children than I learned in school and in college. I know that to learn something very well, it is important to learn it well enough to teach it. So in doing so, I have learned perhaps more than my students.”

It’s been an educational experience for her and the children she has taught, with the ultimate goal of instilling a passion for knowledge.

“Many years ago, I heard a phrase that has stuck with me through the years and has sort of become my mantra: ‘Education is the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a bucket,’” LeAnn said, quoting William Butler Yeats, renowned Irish poet, author and politician.

“My goal is to teach my children to love learning so they continue to desire to learn for a lifetime,” she said.