If Wendy Hawksley needs to teach a world geography lesson, she doesn’t have to find a map. The family recently moved from Delaware to South Korea, thanks to her husband’s career in the Air Force. While they’ve managed to find a homeschool group in their current location, they haven’t forgotten their future. In fact, they’re hoping to be relocated to Europe next year, where they’ll continue to homeschool their 7-year-old son, Gavin.

Besides her life as a military homeschooling family, Wendy is also a Pagan. The Massachusetts native has practiced witchcraft for about 25 years

Wendy was nice enough to take time out of their studies and adventures to answer questions about their homeschool.

How did you get involved in homeschooling?

I don’t remember exactly when or how I heard the term; I think perhaps I read about it in “The Blessed Bee” or a book on Pagan families.  Anyhow, we decided that if we ever had a child, we would homeschool.  Our reasons are purely secular.  We basically want to offer our son an individualized education with one-on-one attention.

What method do you use? What made you choose it?

I use an eclectic blend of classical through “The Well-Trained Mind” and Charlotte Mason.  I like the way “The Well-Trained Mind” organizes the learning stages, and the periods of history, science and literature.  With Charlotte Mason, I like the emphasis on literature, nature study, and the arts.

How does being Pagan affect homeschooling? Do you do anything different because of that?

Being Pagan does not really make a huge difference.  We fit in well with the secular crowd, since we don’t homeschool for religious reasons.  However, we definitely take certain days off as holidays, such as Halloween, that others might not consider important.  We put greater emphasis on the Pagan origins of the modern holidays as well.

How have you used your move to South Korea in your homeschool studies?

Since we decided not to have a vehicle here, we walk everywhere.  So we are keeping active maps.  We have a map of our immediate area, on which we highlight the streets we have walked and the places we have visited.  We compare that to a map of the country and then of the world itself.  These will make great souveneirs someday!  This has also been a wonderful place to teach compass skills, since we can’t read any of the street signs!

You’re a military family. Do you know any other military families who homeschool? Are there resources in your area?

Fortunately, we have a homeschool group for the military families right here on the base.  The past week has been very active with people organizing field trips to see airplanes and educational opportunities, such as learning how to use the library.  Most military bases overseas have homeschool groups.  I have already checked the base to which we hope to be assigned next year in Europe, and there is a homeschool group there that is just perfect for us.

What is your son currently interested in?

My son would spend his entire day playing and watching “Yu-Gi-Oh!” if I let him.  Besides that, he really enjoys arts and crafts, Egyptian history (probably because of all the references from “Yu-Gi-Oh!”), and math.

He also responds very well to the “Magic School Bus” books and has fun with science.  He recently asked me how come all the frogs of the world looked different.  I responded, “Because the Goddess made them that way.”  The expression on his face told me that I had not satisfied his curiosity!

He is ready for more scientific explanations about the world, apparently, and now I need to be prepared to give them! We are about to delve into evolution and things that lived in ancient times, including dinosaurs.  He told me he is really excited about that.

What do you hope to get from homeschooling?

I definitely hope to get some re-schooling for myself.  It is amazing how little we remember from our grammar school days, and I am enjoying learning right along with my son.  I was the type of child who adored school.  I looked forward to September every year!

One of the things I was never quite able to learn in school was algebra (yet I aced geometry).  I hope to learn with my son. I’m also looking forward to history.  It seems we never really covered ALL of history in school.  Most of my memories, even up through highschool AP U.S. History, go up to the Civil War and Reconstruction.  We didn’t talk about anything after that point.  It would be nice to really study the period from Reconstruction through present times.

Many thanks to Wendy for her answers. You can check out her blog at Zen Witch Mommy.