Life through Joy's Eyes.
Disclaimer: This post is going to expose a beautiful nerdy streak that my sister and I both share. Prepare yourself. When Janine and I were old enough to stay home solo when mom and dad went out, we’d more often than not entertain ourselves in a simple way. We’d grab a game from the basement, ...
I have no clue how we came up with this idea, but somewhere along the line in our childhood world of wonder, Janine and I decided that some of our collectible Beanie Babies that grandma had bought us had fallen in love, and of course, needed to get married. All we needed to do was ...
In the early homeschool days, science was one of my favorite topics. It was so easy to feel productive - pull out the microscope and look at things in high magnified detail. Boom. Science. Baking = Chemistry. Let’s figure out how things interact! The mac daddy of them all at that time: Baking soda and ...
September 11, 2001 is a day that none of us will forget. Everyone has their stories of where they were, when they heard, how they felt. I am no different. Except that I made a huge mistake that day. It was a normal Thursday morning. Dad was already gone (either on a trip or to ...
I had my priorities pretty straight as a kid. Sleep often, eat well, and scream frequently - just for good measure. But my mother was also very thoughtful when it came to what we ate and drank. Admittedly so, I got a little out of hand when too much sugar was in my system. For ...
For those of you that know both my sister and me, you are well aware of how different we are in so many ways. One of those stood out dramatically when we both came of driving age. My sister is amazingly book smart - quick to find mental ties between things, quick to learn, has ...
Back in the homeschool days, mom, Janine, and I would start the morning off by going for a trek through the neighborhoods. Mom and Janine would walk/jog and I’d ride my bike. It is no secret that I have a competitive streak and I have always loved winning via speed. Pause for a moment. We ...
I was the quintessential copycat child, much to the chagrin of my sister. My sister had been playing piano for quite a while, which meant I, of course, decided that I must play as well. Mom ran me through the usual responsibility questions: “Will you practice regularly? Are you sure you want to ...
Since my parents homeschooled my sister and me in the days before it was broadly accepted, mom wanted to make sure we were always hitting the expected bars that kids our age were reaching in schools around us. That meant taking standardized tests every year alongside other homeschool kids. One of my most traumatic test-taking ...
We homeschooled in an era where homeschooling wasn’t quite fully accepted as legitimate. But we were surrounded by supportive friends and family who tried to provide educational experiences to make sure we were well rounded. Someone at our church decided to provide us the experience of dissecting a cow’s eyeball. Seems pretty cool ...
