Home school kids know how to party.
Friday night, April 11, over 50 home school students gathered together inside the Cass County 4-H Fairgrounds Community Center to celebrate prom.
The event was planned by the Fountain of Life Home School Support Group with input and help from the students and other home school parents.
Students were treated to a large pasta dinner and afterwards, at approximately 6 p.m., the lights went down in the community center and the dancing began.
Whether it was forming a circling conga line for the Miami Sound Machine or getting down to Taylor Swift’s sick beat, the kids were lightening on their feet Friday night.
Only a month ago, Logansport High School students milled around the dance floor during their prom, sporadically bursting into dance throughout the night.
Cass County’s home school kids could teach them a lesson. As of now, the county home schoolers are in first place for best area prom. Up next is Pioneer on May 3.
Options and flexibility
“People think home schoolers are weird and yes, we are weird,” Cara Mills, one of the parents who helped organize the prom, laughed. “We’re just real comfortable in our skins and we enjoy what we do and we enjoy our families.”
The John Hopkins University Institute for Education Policy reported that in 2022-23, 6.88% of K-12 students in Indiana were homeschooled, placing the state at 13th in the nation when it came to home schooling according to Lendingtree.com. The number increased to 7.58% in the 2023-24 school year.
Home school numbers appear to be increasing across the nation since COVID, according to data presented by the National Home Education Research Institute.
For many families, the flexibility that comes with home schooling makes it an appealing choice.
Home schooling looks different for each family. Parents with younger children may be more hands on while those with teens can depend on their children to manage more on their own.
Mills has raised three of her four children through home schooling. Her youngest, Taylor, is now a junior.
Mills said when her children were younger a typical day would begin at 8 a.m. and her children were normally finished with school work for the day by lunch. Then they would spend the afternoon on their chores and taking care of their animals and helping around the family farm.
“The nice thing about home schooling is the freedom that it provides,” Mills said. “The kids had opportunities to do things that sometimes public schoolers don’t have because they are tied to a desk.”
Her oldest son, Thomas, attends a chiropractic school at Logan University in Chesterfield, Missouri. Her other son, Jeffrey, completed welding certification classes through Ivy Tech and is now working on the family farm. Her daughter, Bailey, is a freshman studying nursing at IUK and is also the reigning Miss Oktoberfest queen. Taylor wants to be a licensed practical nurse and a massage therapist. She’s currently taking dual-credit courses through Ivy Tech.
“There are a lot of opportunities (in home schooling) that people might not know about,” said Lara Speitel, one of the parents who helped prepare the prom dinner. “There’s a lot of flexibility. We can take vacations when others can’t. We can take our spring break during a different week when things aren’t as crowded. There are a lot of options in what classes we can teach as long as its similar education-wise to what they learn in public school.”
When asked what their favorite thing about home schooling is, many of the parents say that it’s the fact they get to spend more time with their children.
“I like that I get to be with my kids more,” said Speitel. “See who they are, see their personalities.”
Brittany Ely said that she home schools her children up until eighth grade and then they enroll in public school. A mother of four, she said because of that extra time with her children it felt emotionally easier when her son left to attend college at Indiana State to study professional flight for a career as a pilot.
Mills said the lack of socialization opportunities for students is one of the biggest myths that circulates about home schooling.
“We are very, very social,” she said. “We were part of a home school cooperative when the kids were younger. We were part of home school support groups that got together for field trips and parties. We’re involved with 4-H and a lot of community organizations. And if the kids missed their friends we just said ‘let’s have a creek day’ and their friends would come over and play in the creek and we would catch crawdads and minnows.”
Once a month the students will meet at the YMCA and organize their own games and activities. Afterward, they might visit a local restaurant for food and to hang out with their friends longer. They might do things like go to the park or bowl.
“Obviously, as you can see, they are very socialized,” said Ely, sweeping her hand across a room full of home school students chatting and laughing together. “We do gather often for social events. We don’t just sit at home and lock the doors and stay away from people.”
She said there would be a variety of personalities on display during the prom, that the kids didn’t feel the pressure to conform to a certain way of behavior that public school kids might.
“I think that’s probably the difference between home school and public schools,” she said. “ (Home school) kids don’t feel so much that someone is going to make fun of them.”
“We’re a little weird, a little dorky but it’s something to be celebrated, I think,” said Mills.
Shake it off
There was no prom for Cara Mills when she was home schooled. She recalled being a little crushed.
“A lot of families in my home school group when I was growing up were rather conservative, a lot of German Baptists and they didn’t think it was appropriate,” she said.
For Mills, the prom is an opportunity to make sure her own children have the chance to dress up and dance the night away with their friends.
The first dance was in 2019. It moved into the fairground community center in 2022.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for them that they might not have otherwise,” said Speitel. “The kids look forward to it all year. They enjoy seeing all their friends in one spot.”
The theme of the prom was enchanted forest, voted on by the students over social media, and the community center was decorated in shades of greens. A ring of green and gold balloons stood in the back where the kids could take prom photos.
As the prom approached Mills posted videos of different songs and the corresponding dances so that the students could learn learn them ahead of time and be ready for the big day. Music was provided by Kevin Price.
Ely said that a lot of the kids that came to the prom just show up on their own or with friends. A few will ask a date to go with them.
Bo Wiseley, 11, sat at a circular table, sparkling in his golden jacket, charming six young ladies. It was his first prom but he was already behaving like a pro.
Was he going to dance with all of those girls?
“Possibly,” he shrugged.
To have the confidence of an 11-year-old. Wisely was the coolest kid in Cass County Friday night.
“Having this opportunity to just dress nice, look all fancy, look like queens and kings, it’s amazing,” said Taylor Mills.
Students could vote for prom king and queen during the night. Since there are more age groups involved at the home school prom, there is a rule that winners can’t compete again so that other students have a chance at the title.
This year’s prom king and queen were Dalton Lendman and Aryella Torkelson.
“I love this,” Bailey Mills said. “My mom never got a prom when she was younger. She didn’t want that for us but I think she just likes to see people come together and have fun and hang out.”
The Mills sisters were front and center on the dance floor, often dancing on their own, making the moves up as they go. There were no tiny caterpillars clutching the community center walls hoping not to be noticed Friday night. They were all social butterflies, soaring and swirling and beautiful.
“I love how even the kids who are a little shy or a little afraid to dive into the mass and dance, even by the end they get into it and it’s just a wonderful time of fellowship,” said Mills. “We leave sweaty and disgusting and with big smiles on our faces.”