I just received this News Article from some friends I stayed with in Denver, as I was doing a Families of Purpose Summit.

Over the years they have been developing the full potential of their home, making it a center for worship, learning, health, hospitality and productive service. Like the household of Stephanas, they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. (See 1 Corinthians 16) I hope this article will inspire further vision in developing our homes into ministry centers for God’s glory.

Noble In Christ Jesus Alone,
Chris Hogan

The Ogg Family Ministry Center

The Ogg family basement holds a lot more than the hot water heater.

Depending on the time and day, each section of the basement is transformed into an educational resource.

The biology classroom is tucked near winter coats and boots, where microscopes, entomology displays of pinned insects and various furry animals educate the eight Ogg children.

Nearby in another corner is the home economics classroom, where six sewing machines await the dozens of home-schooled children and parents who join the Oggs each Tuesday for sewing instruction.

But on Wednesday, May 30, the entire basement was transformed into an orchestra rehearsal hall with 24 home-schooled children grasping trumpets, cellos, drums and a variety of other instruments. Good News Orchestra practice sessions help the Ogg children exercise both their music and social skills.

Joseph Ogg, 14, joked with friend David Morgan while Chavvah Ogg, 16, talked with her fellow flutists. Their talking was cut short by conductor Kat McCusker, an Adams County teacher with a master’s degree in music, who has conducted the home-schooled orchestra for four years.

Group activities for home-schooled children, such as the Good News Orchestra, are common. Home-school parents in Jefferson County said they don’t have to search far to find group activities for their children.

There is no strict tally of home-schooled students in Colorado, but Colorado Department of Education officials estimate the tally at more than 10,000. The Christian Home Educators of Colorado, has 13,560 registered home-school families, but that only represents a fraction of the actual number of families in home schools.

Jefferson County is home to various home-school businesses, support groups and programs, making it a viable alternative to public and private schools for parents.

“It has become a third option,” said Jamie Ogg. “I think the public is more aware, and there are so many options with it.”

Jefferson County School District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said home-schooling works if parents undertake the job with pure intentions.

“I think it is a viable option for parents that have very strong value systems and want to keep their kids home in order to instill those values through education,” she said. “I am very respectful of that and I do not worry about those families who are doing it the right way. I only worry if home-schooling parents keep their kids home to take care of younger children, beat truancy or for other situations that are not focused on education.”

Jamie Ogg said she has seen a few parents who have not properly home-schooled their children. But, Ogg said, those cases are rare. Most home-schooling parents take the job seriously and end up graduating well-rounded students.

Stevenson said she respects parents who undertake home-schooling, but feels public school is a great choice.

“I’m a public school advocate, I feel we are great for all kids,” Stevenson said. “But, on the other hand, I have seen some happy, well educated and well adjusted home-schooled students.”

When Jamie and husband Glenn Ogg first considered home-schooling for their first son, Luke, in the mid-1980s, Jamie admits she was skeptical.

She had heard the stereotypes that home-schooling creates socially ill-adjusted and awkward children.

“I thought, ‘What about their socialization, what about teaching physics and biology,’” Jamie Ogg said. “But when Luke was 4, I absolutely loved being with him, I didn’t want to send him off. I wanted to be the one to teach him to read.”

Jamie and Glenn Ogg decided to try the then-rare concept of home-schooling.

They have since home-schooled all eight of their children for 17 years — Luke, 22, Hannah, 19, Chavvah, 16, Joseph, 14, Rebekah, 13, Jonathan, 11, Mary, 9 and Pete, 6.

Parents’ socialization

At the Ogg household during orchestra practice, it wasn’t just the children that were socializing. While the orchestra was busy rehearsing Fourth of July favorites, parents socialized at picnic tables.

Even little brothers and sisters of the performers paired up, laughing and jumping on a trampoline.

Hannah and Chavvah Ogg teach music lessons out of the basement once a week, and every Tuesday sewing classes bring dozens of people into the Ogg home. Barbara Basham, Jamie Ogg’s mother, also teaches stain-glass lessons to several families.

Home-schooling socializes students with more than their peers, which Jamie Ogg said is an asset.

“It gives them an opportunity to interact with a normal strata of people since normally people are in an environment of varying ages,” she said.

Never an empty house

With 10 family members in the house, the Oggs have a built-in social network under their own roof.

Glenn and Jamie Ogg said socialization occurs not in group classrooms but inside the home.

“This is ground zero for socialization,” Jamie Ogg said while six of her children played together on their trampoline.

An upstairs room serves as the main schoolroom for the family. After finishing chores, each Ogg child consults Jamie Ogg and her master curriculum binder to see what they need to study.

Throughout the school day, the older Ogg children routinely teach the younger ones — whether it be algebra, biology or violin.

The Oggs encourage their children’s interests, and make room in their curriculum for hobbies.

Luke Ogg has taken an interest in beekeeping, and gets help harvesting honey from beehives in the backyard from neighbors during an annual Labor Day open house.

Family time is essential in the Ogg home, especially when Glenn Ogg returns from work at Ball Aerospace in Boulder each night and conducts “Book Time.”

“Book Time is the glue that holds home-schooling together. It is like social central for us,” Jamie Ogg said.

Where Jamie Ogg is the teacher, Glenn Ogg is the principal. Each night during “Book Time” Glenn Ogg checks the work of each child, has discussions about the day and reads from the Bible.

“Book Time” is also the family’s quality time together. They sing, pray, discuss and laugh together before bed.

“I get to experience life with my children,” Jamie Ogg said. “Garden, raise animals, sew, listen to music, have people over. It is wonderful.”

MileHighNews

Posted by Chris Hogan on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 16:01 PM