The Speckles Family

“I have two daughters. The oldest attends Abundant Life Christian Academy, and my youngest attends their Mothers’ Day Out program. My oldest daughter started Kindergarten in the infamous year of 2020. COVID year was a pretty terrible time to start school.

‍

She attended public school in North Little Rock all the way through third grade. We knew we would need to transfer her somewhere before middle school because we weren’t thrilled about continuing in public school. So we started thinking and praying. Then when LEARNS came out, we were eligible to apply because my husband is a firefighter. ‍

‍

My daughter did okay in testing at public school, but she did struggle with social things. There was a lot of bullying going on, which stressed her out at school. And she never had homework. There were a few spelling tests in the third grade, but nothing weekly. She never studied history and had minimal science. School was a breeze for her.

‍

Since starting private school at Abundant Life, her workload has majorly intensified. She has homework every night, and tests and quizzes weekly. She didn’t even know what a textbook was at first—and she’s in the fourth grade. One night, my daughter brought home a textbook and asked what it was. So I taught her how to read it and do what felt like real school. Now, she’s learning how to study and how to learn; she didn’t have any of that in public school.‍

‍

Also, her social situation is much better. That’s largely because of who she’s with—peers that believe in the same values we hold in our home. That’s very helpful. 

‍

‍We definitely couldn’t afford her current school setting without the EFA program. We would have had to make major sacrifices. We hope to send our second daughter to Abundant Life when she’s old enough, and there was no way we could have afforded tuition for two kids. 

‍

I’m very grateful to have an education option outside of public school. I would hate to know what it would feel like if we didn’t have this option. It’s great to send my kid to a safe place that teaches her about the Bible and about God. It feels like a family there, and it’s been a good experience. If we didn’t have this, I don’t know what we would have done for her after the fifth grade. So I’m grateful to have another option.”

‍

Elyse Speckles‍

Arkansas mom of two

‍