Putting on her personalized and painted skates, Ella, now 16 years old, skates, spins, and jumps on the skating rink. With her hair trailing over her shoulders, she  is calm and confident.

Through a tablet on the side of the skating rink, her Spanish skating coach watches Ella’s movements, giving timely guidance and feedback.

In 2019, Ella participated in the World Roller Games, and her quartet skating team was ranked number 14 in quartet skating, which was the best result Taiwan has ever gotten.

(Source: Chien-Tong Wang)

Not only was she on the world stage, she was also acquainted with skaters and coaches from other countries.

To take her skills to the next level, her mother, Jenny Wilkins, hired a Spanish coach who taught Ella every week via online meetings.

Through the aid of the digital tool, Ella started her homeschooling journey in the 3rd grade, breaking free of the traditional education system, connecting to the world while being in Taiwan.

Homework could last four hours

We visit Ella’s home in Xindian, in New Taipei City. Ella and her father, John, are discussing the U.S. civil war using YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles.

In her working studio is a beautiful skating dress displayed on a mannequin. Designed and sewn by Ella, she made the dress for her skating competition. She is also taking a pre-college course online at the Academy of Arts University (AAU). She hopes to attend AAU online once she graduates high school.

Ella’s parents had a small computer business in the U.S. When the economic tsunami happened, they decided to stop their business to come to Taiwan. They wanted to focus on their two children.

Jenny understands the academic pressure put upon kids in Taiwan since she grew up in Taiwan and studied abroad since the 11th grade. She didn’t want her kids to go through the same experience and decided to homeschool her children to cultivate their own interests.

Leave the system and nurture their own interests

Ella’s brother had an interest in science and has returned to the States for college. As for Ella, she has shown her talent in artistic roller skating and art.

Ella joined a rollerblading club when she was in elementary school. She learned so quickly that her coach recommended that she try artistic roller skating. “My dream is to represent Taiwan as an individual. In the long term, I want to be a skating coach,” she said.

Jenny is not afraid of hard work. She drives Ella to the skating rink six days a week, and each training session lasts two to four hours. She also arranged gymnastics and dance classes for Ella to be more flexible and develop core muscles.

“Skating makes me happy. I have this confidence when I put on my skates. Another reason is that my mom can’t tell me what to do when I am on skates,” she says, laughing.

In the area of art, Ella has also displayed outstanding talent. Artwork pieces are hung around the house, and she also has a sewing machine and spends over an hour everyday sewing. Not only does she design and sew her own skating outfits, she also sews for other skaters.

(Source: Chien-Tong Wang)

Be it artistic roller skating or art, many people feel that the United States has a better learning environment. However, Ella wants to stay in Taiwan. “I like the environment and the food here,” she says. Also, she is so familiar with online tools that she is very comfortable learning online.

Jenny wants Ella to go abroad to broaden her horizons; however, she also understands Ella’s need for a comfortable environment. She searched high and low online and found out that AAU offers a costume design online degree.

Learning digitally fully, set your own progress

Currently, Ella has already completed two pre-college courses. Through pre-recorded videos, the professors teach skills in textiles, colors, material selection, and sewing, etc.

To Ella, academic subjects are not a priority. However, she set a goal to pass the GED test (General Educational Development Test). “Ever since homeschooling, I have not taken a standardized test. I want to test my knowledge and also prepare for college academic life.”

GED tests English reasoning through Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Mathematical Reasoning. John and Jenny put in a lot of effort in filtering online resources for Ella.

(Source: Chien-Tong Wang)

For Math and Science, Ella uses Khan Academy. It divides the subject into small modules that Ella can schedule and track her own progress.

“Khan Academy also offers a monitoring system for parents. You can see clearly if a child is stuck on a particular module so that you can offer help right away,” Jenny says.

Social science is even more diverse and flexible. John collected many online resources through YouTube to help Ella understand American history through discussions.

Jenny, an English teacher, has a knack for finding online resources. She got Ella to use Read Theory to practice English reading and writing.

Jenny also combines English learning and social science. When Ella learned about Amelia Earhart, Jenny got Ella to write a paper on Earhart to improve comprehension and practice English writing.

Jenny has noticed that Ella is not able to sit still and takes frequent breaks when studying Math. Even though Math is not an important subject to Ella, Jenny doesn’t want her to give up studying it. “There are a lot of dislikes in life, but some of them still need to be done,” Jenny comments.

(Source: Chien-Tong Wang)

Creating opportunities to meet more people

How do you develop social skills when you study mainly online without going to school?

Many online learning platforms have included social functions in their applications.

Ella joins the “check-in” sessions hosted by Galileo, a self-directed online school, every day. She shares her study plans with many other homeschoolers around the world. Galileo also provides many clubs for learning. For example, some members join "power hour" that they meet at a certain time and study math together.

Parents also have to provide opportunities. Ella has tried out many classes cultivating talent and has also acted in commercials and dramas. After meeting a diverse group of people, she has turned from a shy girl to a warm individual.

The owner of Shades of blue art studio, Zhuo Shuqian, who has known Ella for over eight years, says that she sees Ella’s passion for art and how she loves to express herself through art.

Ella also gets along with everyone of diverse ages at the art studio. Zhuo says, “She actively interacts with people of all ages; that’s very different from kids from institutionalized schools.”

(Source: Chien-Tong Wang)

Playing down the role of a mother, becoming a facilitator

Jenny has put in a great deal of effort into her children’s education. Not only did she get her Master's degree in international education, she also got her EdD online through Northeastern University. Currently, she is writing her dissertation on homeschoolers’ transitional experience to college in Taiwan. She even obtained her artistic roller skating judge license.

But for parents and children, the use of digital tools to study at home is a test of the parent-child relationship.

Jenny says that homeschoolers are usually quite independent and have their own way of thinking. There are bound to be conflicts during learning.

As kids grow older, parents’ mindsets must change too. “Gradually, you need to play down the role of a teacher and mom, and become a facilitator,” she says.

When asked how she felt when she was with her parents 24/7, Ella  looks at her mother and chuckles. She says, "It can be quite annoying when your parents are constantly at your side regardless of what you are doing, class, homework, and eating, etc."

“Skating, art, and sewing need time. With digital tools and me be able to set my own schedule, I can do what I love,” she says firmly.

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Have you read?

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Translated by Jenny Wilkins
Edited by TC Lin
Uploaded by Penny Chiang