Take a moment to talk to families with a passion for travel and discovery, and you’ll often hear they’ve adopted homeschooling as a way to make education an adventure. Anita Gunnoe and her grandsons are taking this ideal a step further. They’re not just sculpting a unique learning experience—they’re doing it with artistic flair.

David, 11, and Arlo, 10, recently returned from an artists’ retreat in North Carolina with yet another skill to add to their list of artisan abilities: soapstone carving. Thanks to their grandmother’s guidance, the cousins have trained in a wide range of crafts, from cabochon lapidary (shaping and polishing gemstones) to stained glass.

Cousins Arlo and David Gunnoe display the Western-style neckties they crafted during one of their many homeschooling adventures with their grandmother Anita.

The cousins hope that as they get older and more proficient in their art, they can use these skills to support their community service efforts as well as career plans.

In the meantime, they’re having a lot of fun. Asked to summarize their homeschooling experience so far, the duo used a single word: “Amazing!”

A Time to Work and a Time to Play

Anita took over homeschooling her grandsons full-time about seven years ago. Her son Thomas (David’s father) lives next door and is a single dad. Arlo’s father Nathaniel and his mom stay extremely busy running a service station that operates 24 hours a day. Anita was a nursing supervisor until she was injured during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Anita is now free to spend more time directing David and Arlo’s schooling.

Anita uses a structured curriculum to ensure her grandsons stay on track academically. But she also dedicates plenty of time to planning extracurriculars.

“If it’s ugly outside, we do schoolwork,” Anita said. “If it’s pretty outside, we do schoolwork in the morning and play and swim in the afternoon.”

As residents of West Virginia, they’ve been able to sample a wide range of outdoor activities. A short list of their exploits includes kayaking, whitewater rafting, snow skiing, and motorcycling.

They’ve also taken long-range field trips, learning about space exploration at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the wonders of the natural world at Niagara Falls, in Canada.

A Seat at the Crafting Table

Among the most remarkable developments of David and Arlo’s homeschooling journey, however, is the way they’ve embraced arts and crafts.

About two years ago Anita connected her grandsons with a rock and gem club that meets near the state capital. They boys quickly impressed the adults in the organization with their aptitude, genuine interest, and discipline.

As a result, “they’re not babied,” Anita said. “They’re treated like adults.”

David and Arlo not only mastered hand tools used for preparing and mounting stones but were taught to use power equipment such as saws and grinders.

Anita said she’s been especially gratified to see the boys develop special connections with experienced artisans in the hobby—including business owners and others with expertise.

The boys also craft intricate pieces of jewelry such as this pendant.

When it comes to shaping stones to emphasize a particular grain, for example, she said “they were trained by a professional jeweler.”

A geologist with the Smithsonian Institution who they met at the club took extra time to interact with David and Arlo. He taught them rock identification after classes for five days. As a result, rock-hounding has become second nature to the cousins.

“We hunt for them everyplace we go,” Arlo noted.

Developing Skills

Their participation with the rock club earned the two of them recommendations to attend an artisans’ retreat in North Carolina. Two years ago, they made their first trip to the workshop, which focused on creating jewelry with chain mail.

Due to their youth, David and Arlo provoked more than a little skepticism about their abilities, Anita recalled. By the time they completed the 30-hour course, that skepticism had turned to enthusiasm.

“This was a milestone for the kids and the organization,” Anita recounted. “Recruiting and retaining younger, eager members to carry on the lapidary and smithing arts is a challenging task.”

David said just learning to work in the medium of chain mail was a challenge as well, especially creating the intricate weave known as dragon scale.

The boys take turns at a tile saw during a lapidary arts session.

“It’s very hard,” he said. “You take tiny rings, and you connect them until they run into a rope like a bracelet.”

The cousins not only persevered, but fashioned bracelets, necklaces, and earrings they were quite pleased with. These came in addition to the many other pieces they’ve created, which include wire-mounted stone pendants and western-style bolo neckties.

At Your Service

Aside from their acquired skills, one thing that has helped David and Arlo earn acceptance from their elders is the way they pitch in with logistical aspects of crafting sessions.

“They assist the older adults with their bags, tools, and equipment,” Anita explained. “During classes they carry supplies to and from the van, plug in the extension cord, lights, and tools, and assist with moving tables and chairs as directed.”

An example of the soapstone carvings created by the boys.

In the same spirit, David and Arlo also participate in community support activities. They helped Anita around the house while she recovered from a recent double hip replacement surgery, as well as repairs to her right shoulder’s rotator cuff.

The boys also collect clothing, shoes, and other items for a local veterans’ home. And in December they dressed as characters from the animated movie Shrek and passed out candy while they marched with other families in their small town’s Christmas parade.

As for this year, the brothers are excited by the prospect of doing more crafting using clay mixed with precious metals. They’re also looking ahead to when they turn 13 and will be old enough to start learning to fly helicopters!

By that point, mused Arlo, his skills as an artisan will truly bear fruit. He’ll be able to sell his creations and spend the extra money on—what else—pilot lessons.