Dianna White saw an opportunity, and she took it. As a mother who home-schools five children, including aspiring swimming champ Alyssa, 15, White wanted to use daytime hours to fit in some swim time and provide her kids with a fun, healthy activity.
She found a partner in Mark Murray, head coach for the Fort Belvoir Swim Team, which serves locations throughout Fairfax County and Alexandria. Beginning last month, the Fort Belvoir team now offers a competitive program for home-schooled students, with children practicing one to three times at week at either in Annandale or in Franconia.
“As homeschoolers, we’re just looking for a little more flexibility, and being able to swim during the day, either in the morning or afternoon, just gives us an opportunity to do something that really is difficult to do otherwise,” said White, who lives in the Lincolnia Park community.
Murray said White and other homeschooling parents approached him and expressed their interest in teaming up with the Fort Belvoir team.
“I said, ‘Great, let’s start it,’ ” Murray said.
About 35 children ranging in age from 6 to 15 have signed up already. The first competitive meet is this weekend, and Murray said expects some children to participate.
White said the team offers three 10-week sessions, in fall, winter and spring, whereas many other groups swim year-round. “That really works well in home-school-land,” she said. “We don’t like to be as tied down as everybody else.”
Swimming during the day is also more affordable because the pool time is cheaper then, White said.
Sarah Giddens of Annandale, who has two boys on home-school swim team, said she was attracted to the daytime hours.
“We can break up our schooling routine with a quick swim here, and then that frees up our evenings,” Giddens said. “Both of my kids do other sports, and so they’re out a couple nights a week already.”
Jen Burkman of Springfield, a homeschooling parent, said the program represented a great opportunity for her daughter, 7-year-old Sylvia. It’s Sylvia’s first time on a swim team.
“She’s just taken classes, so we wanted to do something that was somewhere between not totally competitive, but something that was going to push her a little bit more,” Burkman said. “It’s a straight hour of swimming. She’s never done that before.”
Also, Sylvia is an oldest child, and participation in the group allows her to socialize with older children, Burkman said.
The response from the children themselves is overwhelmingly positive.
“I like it, and I think it’s good for me to do it,” said Sylvia, Burkman’s daughter. “… It’s a little bit hard for me to do it at first, but once I get the hang of it, it’s easier.”
“I think it’s fun,” said White’s 12-year-old son, Drew. “It gives you a good workout, and I think I’ve already lost a good bit of time in breaststroke, and my kick is improving.”
Alyssa White, who plans to swim to at the college level one day, said she liked the idea of a home-school team. “It’s cheaper, it’s nice and it’s more one-on-one,” she said after a recent practice. “I mean, I have my whole lane. So I get a lot of practice in. The (practices) that we did today, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t that fast the last time I did it.”
If you’d like more information about the Fort Belvoir Home-School Swim Team, contact Dianna White at wythouse@gmail.com.
