Homeschooler Mom

The Homeschool Blog Awards (HSBA) announced the first assignment for the new Homeschool Memoirs meme yesterday: All About You!

“This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!”

My name is Carrie and this is my first year homeschooling. I have a 13 year old stepson who’s attending a private school this year, a 4 year old daughter who is chomping at the bit to start school (she’ll be 5 by the end of the year), a 3 year old son who gets excited about learning new things as well, and a 13-month old baby boy.

I decided to start with my daughter this year because she is SO READY and while my 3 year old is still not potty-trained and is a bit behind in his speech, I know he’s ready for a concentrated effort on my part to teach him.

My husband and I work from home on our own internet business. We have several wallcovering websites with our most popular being Wallpaper Illusions, along with a few centered around my passions: writing memoirs and faith, family & freedom.

We live in rural central Virginia on 16+ acres. I grew up in New Jersey and spent summers and Christmases coming down to visit my grandparents here in Virginia. Four years ago I was blessed with the opportunity of purchasing my grandparents farm. With a pond out back (mostly for my husband’s enjoyment), a nature preserve behind our land and rolling hills/pasture all around, the country setting does a body good. I love it!

I graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in Accounting. While I pursued a passion for acting on stage in my mid-20s to early-30s and worked as an Accountant, I gave it all up when I met my husband online and became an instant mom (stepmom) in 2001. (The online romance will have to wait for another post.)

I chose to homeschool for several reasons. The main reason is that I believe I can do a better job of teaching my children my values than the public school system can. When I learned that the church I’ve been attending for the past year or so had such a strong homeschool community right here, it gave me the encouragement I needed to take the plunge.

Here’s a picture of my husband and I with our three youngest children:

This was taken in April of this year at a river not too far from home. Our oldest was at a friend’s house that day, so he’s not included in the picture. In fact, I’m having a hard time finding a current picture of him at the moment.

So that’s about all for now. You can learn more about my life at Memoir Lane (I haven’t been very good at keeping that updated, but hope to do so more this fall) and what matters to me at my personal blog.