By Caleb Wortz
The number of students enrolled as home-schooled has increased by 51% over the past six years according to data analysis from The Washington Post. One Sapulpa family that began homeschooling a few years ago says they would highly recommend it for families who have the time.
Anna and Brian Mitchell moved to Sapulpa in 2016, around the time their oldest son, Bryce, was about to start Middle School. Bryce and his younger siblings, Rogan and Avenn, had been enrolled at Freedom Elementary and despite loving it there they decided to try homeschooling.
“We started homeschooling and Bryce and I had a lot of fun and made a lot of progress,” Anna said. “We ended up pulling the other two and this is now our sixth year doing it.”
One aspect of their homeschooling is a variety of what Anna termed “homeschool activities”, including horseriding and flying drones. The family also took up karate classes at Sapulpa’s Japanese Martial Arts Academy last year.
“We’re all working together and it’s just a good activity for us all to do together,” Anna said. “And it’s a benefit because everybody needs to be able to protect themselves, everybody needs the confidence and the discipline to come in and do something like this.”
The dojo they attend is operated by Jerry Cichon, who started teaching martial arts in 1979 at community centers in West Tulsa. At one time he had taught out of his garage for seven years but he’s now operated the downtown Sapulpa dojo since June of 2023
“I taught kids that just needed some guidance, and I didn’t charge them a lot and I didn’t make a lot but that’s okay,” Cichon said. “I’ve always been the type of person that I don’t care who I teach.”
Anna and Brian’s three kids are adopted, with one having Tourette’s and Asperger’s, one with autism, and another with an anxiety disorder. Anna said homeschooling was a particularly good option for kids who don’t fit into a rigid school structure.
“A lot of my students currently have disabilities, different types, I’ve got kids with autism, an adult with autism,” Cichon said. “It helps benefit them mentally, especially in their confidence and self-control, that always comes along with it.”
Cichon also talked about the benefits of their martial art style, which helps practitioners become ambidextrous by training with both hands.
“It helps them socially but more than anything it has really helped their coordination and movement,” Cichon said.
Anna’s husband, Brian, owns his a law practice and she does his books and bookkeeping, which she says leaves her with plenty of time for homeschooling. She mentioned newer computer-based homeschooling programs that other parents use which reduce the time needed for lesson planning but she prefers it old school.
“We feel like kids are already able to do electronics and pretty computer-literate so we make sure they can write a sentence and write in cursive,” Anna said. “Everything they do is book-based and handwriting-based.”
The most common reasons for choosing homeschooling are concerns about school environments such as negative peer pressure, wanting to provide moral instruction, and having a focus on family life according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
“It slowed our lifestyle down significantly, it reduced stress in our home significantly and we like having our own schedule, Anna said.
