Homeschooling is often a better education option for your family than placing your kids in local schools or international schools. The Opstrup family in Belgium knows. They have tried all options in their globetrotting around the world for the U.S. Department of State.
Christi Opstrup, 40, and her 45-year-old husband Kevin moved three years ago to Waterloo, just outside the capital city of Brussels. Prior to their Belgium posting, Christi and the couple’s three kids lived with her expat parents in the south of France while Kevin served in Iraq. They also had posts in Georgetown, Guyana and Bucharest, Romania.
While in France, their 10-year-old son Keaton, 12-year-old daughter Kiya and 14-year-old daughter McKayla were enrolled in local Sanary-sur-mer schools. In Bucharest, McKayla attended an international school and Kiya a Montessori school.
“I was looking for an American-based curriculum when I did my research before moving to Belgium,” Christi Opstrup said. “When we arrived we tried out the international school for about a year. It was not a good fit because all of the kids swim competitively, but schools in Europe tend to offer sports very late at night. Often the kids were in the pool until 10 p.m., which makes it a little hard to get up by 7 a.m. and get going.”
How did she find the best homeschooling program for her family? “I talked with my friends – both in the U.S. and expats - who are homeschooling, reviewed all of the programs they were using and studied a wide range of curricula because I am not an educator and did not want any holes in my children’s education,” Opstrup said. “After several months of research, I called the state of Maryland (they own a home in Maryland) and the U.S. Embassy in Belgium and asked them for recommendations. We settled on Calvert Education because the website was easy to navigate, they answered all of my questions to my satisfaction and I could really make sense of it. I was especially thorough because when you are responsible for teaching three kids at once you need the best support you can get.”
The family is very pleased with Calvert because it offers an American curriculum that matches the U.S. system. “They have precise standards, objectives and a program that lets us know exactly what to do each day,” Opstrup said. “You follow a step-by-step process and even have videos to help you out. There are 160 lessons to complete for each grade level. If they are completed in less than a year, you can move on to the next grade level.”
The Opstrup’s typical school day starts around 9:30 a.m. and ends around 4:30 in the afternoon with a lunch break and other smaller breaks included. The flexibility of homeschooling allows all three children to participate in swimming and other sports at a more reasonable hour.
Opstrup believes organizational and motivational skills are important factors in making homeschooling a success. “I am not an educator, organization is my strength,” Opstrup said. “I have been a U.S. Army Reserve officer for 19 years, so managing comes easily, but not teaching. Calvert, though, makes it easy for us because they provide all the tools needed, such as lesson manuals and a learning guide that allows me to read lessons ahead of time so I can be well prepared. I have had a great time relearning a lot of things I had forgotten.”
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