Inspire, Fall 2000

Inspire 15 Alumni Profile: Gabrielle Williams Contino ’73 N estled on the couch, listening to Cheaper by the Dozen , sit the four Contino children: Kyle (11), Aaron (9), Martin (9), and Maria (5). Those four children comprise our home school that began when our firstborn arrived. Before our marriage, Tom and I decided that the children God gave us would be educated at home, and it has now become a very rich and satisfying way of life. Our days are very full as we juggle math, history, piano practice, phonics, oral reading, writing, nature notebooks, Lego set-ups, guitar practice, visits to nursing homes, service to elderly neighbors, “The Brothers Three” lawnmowing business, trips to the library (where we check out 60 books), daily household chores, projects at the workbench, and science experiments. Even as I write this article, fermenting out in the kitchen is a homemade stink bomb that scientist Kyle is waiting to unleash on an unsuspecting neighborhood! No day of home schooling is the same—no year is ever the same. Some years we join a co-op, some years we are project- oriented, and some years I am just paddling to stay upright in the water with my four precious passengers. Tom and I take great joy in the family togetherness that home schooling allows us. We are able to see and correct problems immediately, forcing us to see the log in our own eye as we constantly direct the children back to the teaching of Scripture. However, tangled up in the joy is the frustration of a cluttered house, constant noise and activity, always being “on call,” and the nagging question, “Are we doing enough?” No parent can ever do enough and do it exactly right, so we rely upon the infinite wisdom of our Heavenly Father. In the state of Pennsylvania, year-end written evaluations are required for all home schoolers. For the past 10 years, I have been an evaluator, which gives me opportunity to enter into the lives of many families as we discuss the year’s triumphs and difficulties for each child. One side benefit of the process is the opportunity I gain to observe firsthand the many different styles and methods of home schooling, some of which become integrated into our own home. Many times I find myself serving in the capacity of an “educational consultant” as I help families navigate their way through textbooks, curriculum, objectives, and learning styles. I really love it. It’s like training a student teacher. In order to better serve the home-school community, I have become a student of home-school law, have immersed myself in home-school literature, and look for ways to encourage struggling moms. In this arena of service, I also have opportunity to point unsaved home-schooling families to the Savior. How thankful I am for the fine Christian education I received at Cedarville. Through all my years of teaching—14 in the classroom and six at home—the voices of my professors have been ever-present in my ears and heart. Gabrielle Williams Contino ’73 graduated from Cedarville College with a degree in elementary education and lives in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania with her husband, Tom, and their four children. From Student to Teacher