In 1992, I met the love of my life and said "I do", five months later. We immediately moved across the country, for job security, and God blessed us with our first daughter, Jessica. I started a home daycare when she was 3, to help put groceries on the table, and it was during this time, I first heard the word, "homeschooling". Our daycare gave me the opportunity to experiment with the idea of teaching our own and I loved it...plus it helped fuel that little rebellious streak in me that tends to say, "go against the grain". Those of you who know me personally, are probably nodding in agreement now, right? (Perhaps I'll post about that sometime.)

In 1997, still a one vehicle family and using old sheets for the curtains we couldn't afford, our second blessing, Elizabeth, came into this world. One year later, I sent in my "Letter of Intent", officially gave our school a name, and embarked on the big adventure. I purchased an actual "school desk" and "school curriculum", turned the corner of our family room into a "school corner", and grandma bought Jessica a "first day of school dress". At the time, I knew of nobody else, personally roughing these same waters. We were also currently living in the same town as my parents, and though I know they were skeptic about our "little endeavor", they quietly watched us, knowing that we were going to do it our way, regardless of what anyone else thought. (Oh, I forgot to mention that my mother was a public school teacher... )

Eventually, I met another mom, during storytime at a local bookstore, who was also embarking on the same adventure. Finally, a "co-conspirator", to whom I could bounce off some ideas! Let the rebellion begin!

And so it did... homeschool life, like peanut butter with jelly, was a perfect match for our family. We embarked on field trips, met up with a park group, went to craft time, read lots books and "did school at home".

In 2001, Caroline, our third blessing, was born. We were 8 years into our big adventure and making a gradual shift to more of an interest led way of learning. Jessica and Elizabeth had vastly different learning styles and I had to adapt. That wasn't very easy, at first. But, researching it was fun. I will definitely be blogging about this part of the journey. It totally consumed me.

About this time, I first heard the word, "unschooling". The rebellious streak in me was once again, intrigued. But, it took many years to co