Family first

The Wilkinson family, from left, Rebecca, 10; Abigail, 13; Emily; Caleb, 13; Titus, 7; Pete; Elizabeth, 5; and Bradley, 13; ride bikes on the Banyan Road Trailhead in Silver Springs Shores, Fla. on Thursday, July 10, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

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Posted July 14, 2025 | By Marian Rizzo, Correspondent

Pete and Emily Wilkinson live by the adage, “The family that plays together stays together.”

As soon as their children started coming along, the Wilkinsons started making family activities a priority. Today, they have six kids—13-year-old triplets, Abigail, Bradley and Caleb; Rebecca, age 10; Titus, 7; and Elizabeth, 5. On any given day, the Wilkinson family might be out biking, hiking, camping or canoeing.

“We fit into two canoes. This year we went camping for a week. My husband especially loves fishing and boating. Florida is a beautiful state. There’s so much to do here. We also do gardening. Some of my children love to garden and have their own plot,” Emily said.

In a world dominated by technology and independent lifestyles, the Wilkinson children don’t have cell phones or play virtual games on a tablet. Emily said she believes that nothing interferes with family activities as much as screen time.

“It’s so popular today, but it’s really, really hurting our children,” she said. “I don’t know when we will give our children a phone. Since they don’t have those things, it causes them to be more creative. It requires them to use their imaginations, to come up with what they want to do, and it helps create individual interests. They’re not just staring at a screen. They have to come up with things on their own. Abigail is making bookmarks with pressed wildflowers, and she makes jewelry. The youngest two are very creative with crafts. And they all like to go to the Reilly Arts Center to hear the symphony.”

According to the Pew Research Center, three-quarters of U.S. adults rate spending time with family as one of the most important things to them personally. Americans of every age group rank family time, physical activity and being outdoors as one of the most important things or are very important to them personally, the website states.

A large family is rather new to Pete and Emily.

“We each only have one sister. My sister is 12 years older than me, so I’m pretty much an only child, which is why I wanted to have a large family,” Emily noted.

As the senior pastor of Oak Crest Baptist Church, Pete also believes, “the family that prays together stays together.” He said that over the years, he has learned to juggle his responsibilities at church with the care and nurturing of his family.

“One of the things about being a pastor is, I have lot of flexibility. I’m able to do a lot of preparation for sermons late at night or early in the morning. That frees up most of my time during the day. If I don’t have meetings, I have family days. I’ve learned to guard the time with my family, so I make it a priority,” he shared.

Besides saying grace at mealtimes, the family starts and ends each day with prayer and Bible readings. Pete said his guiding passage of scripture comes from Deuteronomy 4:6, known as the Shema, which says, “Teach these things to your children.”

As for academics, the children are homeschooled. Emily said it’s worked out well, with all of them maintaining their correct grade level in nearly every subject.

According to the National Home Education Research Institute, home-educated students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public school students on standardized academic achievement tests. The site also suggests that home-educated students are typically above average in social, emotional and psychological development.

“We’ve always been on a schedule from the beginning,” Emily explained. “While I’m working with someone else, two of my triplets are teaching my younger ones how to read. Reading is really important to my family. My husband reads to my children before we go to bed. Some sit on the couch and some sit and play with blocks on the floor. We like to read the Bible together in the morning during breakfast. We pray together. The children take turns praying at meals, and Pete always prays for the family at night.”

But do the children feel they are missing out on anything? Not at all, said Abigail. Besides schoolwork and household chores, she plays the flute, has friends at church and enjoys outdoor activities with her brothers and sisters.

“I’m never alone,” she remarked. “I never get left out by my siblings. I always have someone to play with.”