Jasmine, age 9, studies her dog Boaz's fur under a microscope.

Jason Baiocchi studying diligently as Boaz 'helps'.

In our family, we have two homeschooled kids, two kid-trained Belgians, two working parents. When homeschooling, you often see things like kids reading to their dogs, kids doing schoolwork in the dog's kennel or crate, kids doing science projects that involve their dogs, kids' physical education including dog exercising duties, etc. My teen is even responsible for weighing and measuring the dogs' raw food.

Boaz is one of our two Belgian Sheepdogs (Tervuren). His registered name is Sanjen Boaz de la Vie EnGarde.  He is 3 years old and was bred by George D. Martinez, MD. We wouldn’t even have Boaz if we weren’t homeschooling!  Raising any puppy takes a serious commitment of time and energy; raising a Belgian takes extra effort in terms of socialization and training.  We had wanted another Belgian for some time, but didn’t feel we could do justice to a puppy when nobody was home five days a week.  Then my work schedule changed in such a way that I was allowed to telework several days a week, which enabled us to begin homeschooling.  At about the same time, our oldest Terv died, and our remaining Terv, Flyer, was lonely, and I told George that we were ready for another puppy.  We met Boaz for the first time the day after he was born, and visited the litter several times a week until he was old enough to come home with us.  He has been a wonderful pet for our family - but then, we actually like high-energy dogs!  Boaz is affectionately known as “the Turbo-Charged Terv” and the kids like to say he had jet fuel for breakfast!
 
Boaz has a wonderful temperament, although his boisterous exhuberance would probably frighten some non-dog people.  But we enjoy him, and appreciate his very bold and friendly personality.  He and Flyer are both always ready to help exercise the kids, pose for pictures, model when someone’s feeling artistic, join in games, and listen when someone’s reading or practicing lines.  Both dogs and both kids have been active in our local 4-H dog project club for as long as we’ve been homeschooling.  We’re looking forward to adding a third Terv to our family whenever George (our breeder) finds just the right dog for us.