Echo Spring 2023 - 28

By Jessica Whitmore, MA, Adjunct Professor, Communication & Media Arts Department
F
Faith and Dean ('84) Husler's son,
Jeremy, was homeschooled for
nine years after a diagnosis of
autism at the age of 3.
aith (Haines '84 & '87) Husler remembers picking
out homeschool curriculum. If a curriculum didn't
work, she knew to continue searching until
something did. What she didn't expect over
her 20-year career as a homeschool mom was
that while one child would thrive and excel over the
years, another would stall his progress at the thirdgrade
level.
It was not the life she expected when she moved from
her home state of New Hampshire to start classes at
Lancaster Bible College in the 1980s with a plan to
earn an associate degree.
" This is cool! " Faith remembers as she looks back on
being in the first class for a two-year associate degree.
Her original plan was to start at LBC as the tuition was
less than other options available to her. She would
then transfer to another college to finish her bachelor's
degree. She tried that. After a year, she discovered it
wasn't what she had hoped, and she returned to LBC
to graduate with her bachelor's degree in Bible and
Christian Education in 1987.
" I squeezed a four-year degree into five years, " Faith
explains with a chuckle. During her education at LBC,
Faith was active within social activities such as roller
skating events, was part of the LBC cheerleading squad
for soccer, played on the softball team, tried basketball
cheerleading for a year, participated in drama club and
served on the student senate.
Without knowing it at the time, the classes and
experiences she had at LBC were laying more than
just a foundation for Christian Education in a church
setting. They were laying the foundation for a future
as a homeschool family with a child diagnosed with
autism.
The ECHO asked Faith's
husband, Dean Husler
('84), to share some
thoughts about Faith,
their family and their life
together. His response
was an email that shares
beyond their relationship
and reliance on each
other and God. Dean's
words can't be told
in a few quotes, so to
continue reading about
the Huslers, visit the QR
code or lbc.edu/echo.
She remembers professors asking that assignments
be submitted clearly, concisely and creatively, and they
taught that way as well. " LBC gave me the confidence
in teaching skills and lesson plans through different
things we learned to do, " she shares.
That foundation, in retrospect, even went back further:
to her childhood. Faith remembers an older deaf
boy who lived in her hometown. As she reflects on
interactions, she remembers he couldn't communicate
with others. " I tried my best to communicate with
him, " she says softly. " He struggled to understand.
That affected me. "
That effect caused her to be prepared " for the next
time. " Years later this came into play when she was
involved at a church where she could help those
with hearing impairments. She became involved in
the church's deaf ministry, including interpretation at
times. While she intended to continue developing her
interpreting skills after graduating from LBC, the cost
kept her from finishing.
28 ECHO
Yet, she incorporated her sign language skills in raising
her own family, which includes her husband, Dean
('84), and their two sons, Justin (now age 26) and
Jeremy (now age 20). Faith and Dean, who graduated
with a Pastoral Studies degree, met at LBC. They started
as friends and stayed in contact over the years. They
married in 1991 and settled in Carlisle, Pa.
After a few years, Dean was presented with an
opportunity through his employer, a freight company,
to transfer and relocate to North Carolina. The Huslers
accepted, and North Carolina became their home.
When Faith and Dean added children to their life, Faith
started homeschooling Justin, who was then 5 years
old. The Huslers couldn't imagine their active son
sitting in class, and they also had concerns with what
was being taught at the public school.
Even with concerns about affording to homeschool,
they chose that path and engaged with two to three
homeschool groups that focused on math, drama,
choir and other topics and subjects they couldn't easily
do at home, along with homeschool social activities.
Justin ended up graduating as a homeschooler, even
after one year at private high school, and is now
married, working and finishing his own bachelor's
degree.
Within homeschool families, the educational journey
for each child can look different. This was also true
for Faith and Dean's younger son, Jeremy. At the age
of 3, Jeremy was diagnosed with autism. He started
his school experience by attending preschool and
continued in the public school system through age 9. It
was during third grade that Jeremy was overwhelmed
with homework and was having in-class outbursts
that resulted in breaking things and time-outs with
the principal. Faith found herself managing much of
Jeremy's education between homework, extra support
and continual meetings and phone calls.
" I'm doing it anyway. Just bring him home, " is
what Faith remembers when they decided to also
homeschool Jeremy.
That " doing it anyway " philosophy further shifted with
Jeremy as he plateaued with third-grade material,
which made it more difficult into the high school years
as Faith struggled to find, for example, government
and economic textbooks and materials at a third-grade
level.
Jeremy's days became full of schoolwork he
cared about, broken into manageable tasks for his
understanding with many breaks, while also attempting
different resources outside of textbook curriculum, such
as horse therapy, Miracle League baseball and parks and
recreation opportunities, including cheerleading.
" Physically, he can do anything, " Faith explains about his
autism diagnosis. " He has trouble understanding others, "
http://www.lbc.edu/echo
Echo Spring 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Echo Spring 2023
