Biography

DANIELLE PAPAGEORGIOU has been homeschooling, or “lifeschooling,” for 17 years (she counts birth as day 1!) and has run the WINGS Homeschool Group for the past eight. She has a passion for helping other homeschoolers learn how to homeschool in a way that does not compete with family life, but actually enhances it…homeschooling done in a spirit of freedom, not legalism.

Her desire is to see more families set free from the world’s expectations of what education is and to discover that God has made each family unique and has also placed in each of their children special gifts and desires that He wants to use. The verse that guides the Papageorgious in their pursuit of lifeschooling is Matthew 6:33, “But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and ALL these things will be added to you.” (Emphasis mine).

Danielle has been married to her amazing husband, Jon, for 20 years and they have three talented and fun children on earth, Konur (17), Elleina (15), and Korban (7), as well as a baby girl, Myla Grace (born at 14 weeks) in heaven. Konur has become proficient in many computer coding languages, publishing a game on Khan Academy, and is very interested in history, math, economics, and computer programming. Elleina is a gifted artist, writer, and actress who published a novel at age 13 (No Return) and played the role of 12-year-old Kate in the movie, Like Arrows (produced by the Kendrick brothers). Korban is busy learning from days of extensive playing and imagining, along with limited formal academics, but currently shows a strong interest in electronics and mechanical “stuff.”

“Academics as Relationship”

As Christians, we are called to pursue two goals above all else: 1. Love God and 2. Love our neighbors as ourselves. But how does this relate to lifeschooling and academics? If we want to teach our children to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, perhaps we should teach them to also love academics, one of the conduits of becoming the persons God created them to be, in order to love God and love others.

In this presentation, we will explore how our attitude toward academics influences our children’s attitude. If we want to teach them to love learning, then can we really treat learning as a chore, something to be highly scheduled, controlled, and managed? Or should we rather treat it as we would any other relationship…something to be nurtured, treasured, and explored as it is naturally opened up and revealed to us in everyday life?