By Michaela Gordoni
HOME TOWN’s Erin Napier homeschooled her two daughters this past school year as a way to give them a full childhood.
“Somehow, we did it! 2nd grade / k-4 are ✅,” the mom of two wrote in an Instagram post. “This is what I want you parents who think you’d like to homeschool but you’re afraid you can’t: if you can find 2 hours a day and ‘open and go’ curriculums, you can do it.”
“These girls are so happy, so good at communicating with all ages and types of people. And we feel like we soaked up every moment of growing up they did, instead of feeling shocked by it each passing week. We found the hack to slowing down childhood,” Napier said.
She admitted that it’s not possible for everyone, but it was what their family needed.
“Some people think homeschooling is weird. I did too when I was young. Around the time Helen was born, we met some homeschoolers who were so remarkable, so mature, so communicative, and interested in learning, it made us realize we wanted whatever that was,” she said.
Related: Why Erin And Ben Napier Are Keeping Their Daughters Off Social Media Until High School
Napier works with her HGTV production team to carve out time to homeschool her children up to four times a week.
“If there’s a day that construction needs us the whole day, our friend who is a retired teacher subs those 2 hours for us,” she explained.
“While [Ben] does his subjects, I work with Mae on phonics and simple arithmetic,” she shared. “Then we switch, and I teach Helen language arts (grammar, spelling, poetry, cursive), etiquette (I’m learning some things alongside her best of all!), art, and science.”
The girls have lots of extracurriculars. They learn French, take horseback riding lessons, visit museums, learn the piano and participate in gymnastics, arts, tennis, ballet and track.
“We hope to do this for as long as it serves the girls, and someday send them to high school. It has been the best season of our life as a family that I thank God for every night,” Erin said.
Last year, Erin explained that her daughters have never had phones, tablets or iPads.
She said, “We’re trying to live like it’s our childhood again.”
“We let them watch things on TV, all of us together as a family. We have a movie night like every night, and it’s not like we don’t have TV time,” she continued. “We’re watching like BERENSAIN BEARS, we watched PRANCER this week. So living slower.”
The Napier’s spin-off series, HOME TOWN: INN THIS TOGETHER, came out on May 10. A new episode comes out on May 24 on HGTV.
Read Next: Ben Napier Shares Hilarious And Adorable Throwback School Picture
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