Education at Casa Hogar

One of the most beautiful parts of the home is the education that the children are receiving. Given the teacher unions throughout the country and with Oaxaca being one of the states with the largest number of teacher unions, the public schooling systems in the state do not give the best education for the children. From personal experience, when I walked around the town of Huajuapan de León on weekdays, I saw many children walking around the streets of the town. I was very surprised to see this because normally in the middle of the morning on weekdays, these children would be in school. For this reason and the lack of degree requirements that the state requires of elementary and high school teachers, the children were taken out of public schooling. With private school being very expensive, the children are now taught at the home. Lucero is a woman who grew up at La Casa-Hogar and has a full teaching degree, which she received from a university in the state named Puebla, a neighboring state of Oaxaca. After she received her degree, she came back to La Casa-Hogar to live with and teach the kids. Kezi, Danny’s wife, also helps with education and teaches English. Danny’s sister-in-law helps as well, and they have a physical therapist that comes once a day to help the children with disabilities.

To ensure the children’s education is preparing them for the future and to practice test-taking skills, once every month the children are taken into the town of Huajuapan de León to a computer lab where they take standardized tests at their current grade level. If they pass the test, they are advanced to the next level. If they do not, they are required to repeat the current level. The passing rate each month for the children is around 90%, showing that the children are learning incredibly well.

The beautiful teaching facilities at La Casa-Hogar can be seen below. The main source of funding for La Casa-Hogar, which helped the construction of these facilities, is the church attached to La Casa-Hogar and from the church in Kezi’s hometown. 

Christina and Esther in the nursery:

The teaching facilites:

The dental room:

The physical therapy room:

For a quick side note on Kezi, Kezi is from Wisconsin and both of her parents are missionaries. She experienced Oaxaca many times as a child and teenager, coming on many mission trips with her church at home. A very long and incredible story short, Kezi and Danny ended up falling in love and she now lives in La Casa-Hogar with Danny, their two biological daughters, and all the children at the Casa. Once a year, Kezi and her parents’ church in Wisconsin brings a large group of youth down to work at the Casa. Here is a photo of the new dormitories that are currently being built and that the youth group members work when they visit. Some members also spend time at Tlaxiaco, the sustainable farm and second location for the older boys at La Casa Hogar. My next post will be delving into the specifics of Tlaxiaco and how it is different than the primary location.

The new dorms: