Lynn has been homeschooling since 1997. Her eldest three went to school for a time, and then, because of bullying issues, she and her husband decided to try homeschooling for six months. Lynn had always been interested in homeschooling, and said, “I believe that it was something that the Lord put on my heart to do.” Lynn is a mum of thirteen, and she still homeschools her youngest two.
There were less resources available in 1997 then there are now, and Lynn talks about how she started homeschooling with a Protestant curriculum. Then, she started adding Catholic material and she “really began to develop our own curriculum and our own program.”
Lynn was “very influenced by Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education,” and likes good books; she says “we’ve all been quite voracious readers.” She mentions Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home, by Elizabeth Foss. Elizabeth Foss was a mum of seven, and so has some good advice to offer for large families.
Lynn mentions that all her kids have some level of dyslexia. Homeschooling gave Lynn “the ability to…adapt curriculum to suit their needs and their struggles, and it’s allowed us to maintain their self-esteem and their learning while making allowances for where their struggles are.” Some of her children went for assessments, and “while reading abilities have been, because of their dyslexia, below their age-group, their vocabulary, their comprehension, their word knowledge, has all been a few years above.” Lynn could cater to the needs of each child through homeschooling, especially when “what worked for one child didn’t always work for the next child.” Lynn continues, “often their self-esteem, which could have been eroded in a school setting, was preserved by homeschooling.”
Homeschooling has also helped the Burton family grow closer to each other. Lynn says, “The family relationships, the lifestyle relationships, that keeps the family unit together in a different way than sending them to school does.”
The Burton family live in the country, which can be a little isolating. There was one other Catholic homeschooling family living close by, but otherwise “a lot of the time we were on our own.” Lynn made an effort to take her children to events like March for Life and Christus Rex. In 2001, along with another family, Lynn started a Catholic homeschooling camp. This gave her children the chance to be around priests, religious, and other Catholic kids, and forge lasting friendships.
A typical day at the camp will start with 9am Traditional Latin Mass, followed by morning tea, and then talks and Catechesis. Sometimes some people chant the office, or there is Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, or Culture Project sessions.
Lynn says “It is authentically Catholic…we are unapologetically Catholic.” Once, someone who wasn’t Catholic at the time attended a camp and “she is now Catholic.” The camp will occur for the twenty-fourth time this year.
