Home-Schooled Homebuilders Win Aid

Posted By Ina Woolcott

By ZAC ANDERSON
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Published: July 15, 2008

NORTH PORT - Cathy and Mark Suggs' life has taken a few sharp turns, none more than when the couple decided to live off their savings and build a house with almost no prior construction experience.

It was the latest in a string of adventures that included living on a boat and leaving well-paying jobs to home school their three children. Sometimes, the Suggses worried the unorthodox upbringing might limit their children's college opportunities. But the path less traveled can be rewarding.

Last week, all three of the Suggs children received college scholarships from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, in part because of the homebuilding experience. Almost nothing went according to plan with the Suggs' North Port house, but it helped solidify 17-year-old identical twins Stephen and Jake's interest in engineering.The boys, gregarious with spiky hair, wrote about the experience in their various scholarship applications, and ended up garnering more than $9,000 each, including $7,500 apiece from a special scholarship fund for future engineers.

Hope For Home Educators

Of course, it also helps that the twins and their older sister Jessica are exceptional students who began taking classes at Manatee Community College at a young age. Stephen and Jake both have 70 hours of college credit, more than halfway to a bachelor's degree. Cathy Suggs hopes her children's success gives home schooling parents hope. "Home schooling can be very difficult and it's easy for people to get discouraged," she said.

Home schooling is all about the teachable moment, and the Suggs' house project had many.

To read the full story click here : Home-Schooled Homebuilders Win Aid