Homeschoolers prepare for new school year with curriculum and material exchange | News, Sports, Jobs

Martinsburg resident Caitlin Carson (right) talks about her ice cream maker with other homeschoolers at the Homeschool Curriculum & Supplies Swap at the Shepherdstown Public Library on August 15. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN – Homeschoolers from across the region hauled boxes and bags full of used curriculum and other materials to the Shepherdstown Public Library on Aug. 15.

The goal of this event, the Homeschool Curriculum & Supplies Swap, was for families to swap items they no longer needed with each other. Organizer Nicole Gonzalez-Knolton hoped the swap would help homeschooling families save a few dollars here and there by not having to purchase all the items they need for their children’s education.

“We hope we can help the community,” said Gonzalez-Knolton. “Hopefully people will find things that are useful.”

The homeschool mother of three said she was pleased with the turnout at the event. This was the first swap her group, Nature Lovers Homeschool Play Group, had held for the public. In the past, the group has always held its swaps in person at Morgan’s Grove Park, among the 2,000 members of its private Facebook group.

“We wanted to help other parents,” said Gonzalez-Knolton. “We’re always giving things away to each other.”

Martinsburg resident Heather French (left) talks with Nicole Gonzalez-Knolton (center) and Erin Short at the Shepherdstown Public Library on August 15. Tabitha Johnston

Admission to the Nature Lovers Homeschool Play Group is limited to those who have met one of the three leaders – Shepherdstown residents Gonzalez-Knolton and Michelle Kwiatkowski and Sharpsburg resident Erin Short. This event also served as an opportunity for prospective members to meet the leaders and get their approval before the school year begins.

“It is a cooperative that focuses on excursions for home-schooled students,” Gonzalez-Knolton said all members of the group have access to about three field trips or other events per week in which families can participate.

For Short, the group was a great addition to her daughter’s education and also a wonderful opportunity for her and her daughter to socialize on a regular basis.

“It is a greater chance to maintain regular friendships, especially between the people who come regularly,” Said Short.

Shorted noted that the group’s co-op has about 80 regular participants. Homeschooling families who don’t want to be part of the co-op but are willing to organize one trip per year can also simply join the larger Facebook group.

For some participants, the swap was a great way to ensure they would be included in the group if they asked to join online in the future.

Martinsburg resident Heather French’s oldest child is still in preschool, but she decided to participate in the swap anyway to ensure she will be included in the group and its co-op in the future.

“I wanted to make sure we had our foot in the door,” Said French. “We moved here in January.”

Caitlin Carson of Martinsburg also attended the event. Her goal was to find a children’s dictionary and to donate her unused ice cream maker to a family who would like to use it for science or family and consumer science projects. She herself was homeschooled by her mother and began homeschooling her four children, ages 8 to 13, last year.

“My mother has been homeschooling my children for 30 years. Now that I’m starting to do that with my children, she’s helping me. For a while I wasn’t sure I could do it – it can be really intimidating,” Carson said. “My children went to public school for a while, and while many people in the school system really cared about them and tried really hard, there were also many other factors that made me feel like homeschooling would be better for my children’s mental and social health.”