Makayla and Jackson Carter are both freshmen at North High School, but they are not twins like some might think. Makayla was bumped up a grade after her and Jackson were homeschooled while in foreign countries for eight years, causing Makayla to be a year younger than her brother and her friends.

“It’s intimidating being so young and in High School. I’m just younger than everybody else and it’s a new environment,” Makayla said.

They have been homeschooled for almost their entire life. They had started public school last year for 8th grade at Harding Middle School. But they only went for half the day, every day. This year is the first year they’ve had a full year of going to public school.

“Having Makayla in the same grade is a little weird sometimes, since she is younger than me. But at least we don’t have any classes together,” Jackson said.

They say that they like public school better though because there are more opportunities and it is easier to make friends.

But they aren’t your average freshmen. Not only were they homeschooled for most their lives. They were homeschooled because they have been living in and out of the country since they were both toddlers.

They have gone from living in the states to living in Costa Rica, then to living in Colombia. They’ve moved in and out of the states because their parents, Scott and Laura Carter, are missionaries. Missionaries are people who believe God sends them on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country. Scott and Laura have been involved with the missions’ field since 2003.

“Honestly, we knew that it was something God was calling us to do. To go serve other people in need and tell them about the forgiveness that can be found in Jesus,” Scott Carter said.

While involved with their missions, the Carter’s started a church while living in Santa Marta, Colombia. Every Sunday Makayla and Jackson would walk to their parents’ church for the Sunday service. They were also involved with their parents’ bible study and helped them set up and clean up every day.

Their dad, Scott, was a camp director of a Christian camp; he also trained youth pastors and youth workers. While their mom, Laura, was involved in teaching in schools and teaching many children and adults English.

But outside of the missions’ field, the Carters are just your average family. They would start their day with homeschooling where their mom taught their lessons. They would work on their schoolwork for the entire first half of the day until it was time to eat lunch. After lunch they would finish up whatever schoolwork that they had left for the day. “Every other day we would go to the beach to do our school work, so that was really fun and cool, especially with the scenery,” Makayla said.

They then would go outside and climb up a mango tree that they had in their front yard and pick the ripest mangoes. They then would either play outside with their friends or they would go into their only air-conditioned room of their home and watch TV together. Then they would end their day with going to the city to shop and buy fruit and other foods. Most days they would go to the beach to swim and have fun with family and friends. “One time it was really hot out, and an iguana had ran into our house and was running around everywhere, that was really fun. But we ended up throwing a towel over it and putting it back outside, it was cool,” Jackson said.