Welcome! Let's get to know each other!

Hi! I’m Mary. I have two boys, ages 2 (almost 3) and 4. We will begin our official homeschool journey in the fall when our oldest starts Kindergarten. I am still exploring different curriculum options, but I think I’m leaning toward a living books/Charlotte Mason approach. We are so excited and thankful to have the opportunity to continue to have so much time together as a family, to be able to travel together, to spend more time with extended family, and to enjoy the learning process together. I feel like God has called us to this, and I am so excited to begin our journey. :slight_smile:

Hello Erica! Thank you for starting this forum . I have enjoyed your informational site. My name is Jennifer. I have 5 kids aged 3,7,9,18,&21. Grandma recently to a little girl. I homeschooled my 9 year old for a year and he has gone back to public school and is struggling with his kinesthetic learning style in school. I will bring him home next term. I also will bring my first grader home as well. I have been doing preschool with my 3 year old this year. I look forward to being a part of this forum.

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Thank you so much for starting this community!

COAH has been my favorite homeschooling blog for several years now for multiple reasons and I look forward to interacting more with other homeschoolers. :slight_smile:

I have a 7 year old (second grader), a 5 year old (kindy), and a 14 month old. I have homeschooled them since my 7 year old was in preschool.

Life is pretty crazy and hectic 99% of the time, but I absolutely love the life God has given me.

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Hi! I’m Diana…mom to 4 kids from ages 11-21! I’ve only homeschooled the youngest - started just over 2 years ago. My other kids did well in public school and we live in a great district, but our youngest has some learning disabilities we are trying to work through. Our three younger children (16, 15 and 11) were adopted - we were foster parents for 8+ years…and they all had a very rough start to life. Some of the learning disabilities we are facing are most likely a result of the pregnancy and other ‘behaviors’ during their birth moms pregnancies.

I am a former middle school math teacher and no matter what anyone tells you…it still doesn’t completely prepare you for homeschooling your own children! I’m very excited about this community and look forward to hearing advice, praises, trials and simply being able to learn from each other! God Bless!

Hi there, We have been home schooling for two years now. We have 4 beautiful children. As for our teaching style I guess I would have to say eclectic. We do a little bit of everything. I started homeschooling for several reasons; the main one being that We wanted our children to learn about God’s word everyday. I wanted to have more control over what they were being taught on a daily basis.

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Hi, my name is Shawna. I have one very headstrong little boy who is 4. He will be 5 next month. We live in Alberta, Canada and I just started homeschooling November 2014, so under 4 months we’ve been doing this. This year I wanted to do a test run for homeschooling, to see if it would work out for us, and so far we like it! Right now, I’m using a preschool curriculum that I found on the internet. I don’t know much about homeschooling, or the different styles, or even the different curriculum. I have always considered homeschooling, and I think it will be a great option for us. I love the idea of being involved in my sons education, and that we will be able to be more in control of who is influencing him. It is a bit intimidating, because I am in no way a teacher. I love seeing my son learn, and I love that we can focus things around Christ and biblical values. I know that homeschooling is what God has in store for us right now, and I know that we will all grow from it.

Hi! I’m SO excited that you are starting your own forum. I loved the curriculum posts where everyone could share so this sounds fantastic!

How long have you been homeschooling?
We have children in 3rd, 2nd, K, preschool, and tiny tot. So I guess 4 plus years

How many children do you have?
We have five children a 9ds, 7 1/2 dd, 6ds, 4ds, 2ds

What teaching style do you like best? Charlotte Mason, Traditional, Eclectic, etc.
I really like the Charlotte Mason method for the living books and short lessons but would probably call us eclectic.

Why did you start homeschooling?
God truly placed in my heart from an early age. We decided it is the best option for what we are trying to achieve for our children’s education.

Thank you for your blog and now this forum!!
April

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Hi~
I’m Marie and this is my second year homeschooling. I have a son who is five and in kindergarten and a daughter who is 4 and is doing mostly kindergarten work at this stage with some modifications.

I tend to lean toward a more traditional approach pulling from a multitude of resources.-(Pinterest has become my best friend in supplementing many areas of study as well as using Erica’s and Carisa’s resources/products)

My homeschooling adventure started when as a family we decided I would leave teaching in the public school realm to teach, guide and mold my children’s hearts and instill in them the values we wanted and believed in as a family- Like many we have taken the passage found in Deut. 6:5-7 to heart and believe it is our responsibility and privilege to raise up children for the Lord by His grace.

I am excited to be a part of this community as I am just starting the homeschool journey!

Hi! My name is Amber. I have 3 children and am pregnant with our 4th, due in early August. We currently have 2 girls, ages 7.5 and 4 (5 next month) and our little boy is 2. The baby on the way is another girl and is the last one for us. :smile: I have been homeschooling for 4 years now. I started homeschooling because my oldest has very severe food allergies. At first, I thought I would keep her at home until she could read food labels, then she’d go to public school just as my husband and I did. However, after doing it for a few years, I really feel called to continue! We will be doing Kindergarten and 3rd grade next year…my first real year of schooling multiple ages/grades. Preschool is pretty laid back around here for us. We love the flexibility of the schedule with homeschooling, especially since my husband works odd days 3rd shift. With homeschooling, we actually get to all spend time together on his off days, even if they are Wednesday and Thursday. I love learning right along with my kids as well. Your post about your conversation with God has been such a huge help for me, as I feel the weight and pressure from friends and some family every single year about sending the kids to “real” school (GRRR I hate that terminology). I’m excited to be a part of the community here!

Hi! I’m Jennifer! What a great idea! I have been homeschooling for 3 years. I started my oldest in K…she is a 2nd grader now and my youngest started K this year. We virtual school our core subjects and use other resources to fill in the rest. We started schooling at home because I wanted to be in more control of what my 2 girls were learning at school. I have heard too many horror stories of bad teachers, falling behind, and bullies. We LOVE getting to be with each other and hopefully we will get to continue schooling this way!

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Hi! My name is Heather and I have homeschooled on and off for many years, along with having my three girls in a local classical christian school. I am currently homeschooling my youngest in third grade, my ninth grader is at our school, and my oldest is already in college! I prefer to homeschool classically, along with a Charlotte Mason type method. I am a curriculum junkie :slight_smile: I have followed COAH for probably six years now! So glad to be here. :slight_smile:

Heather

Hello! My name in Mindy and I have 3 children ages 2, 6 & 9. I have been homeschooling for 3 years now. I feel so blessed to be the one teaching my children and having all this extra time to spend with them. They are a great bunch, but let’s be honest … we have our days when I just want to lock myself in a closet and cry! I’m not alone though. Right?! COAH has been a blessing more than I can even explain. When I started I didn’t have a homeschool co-op like I do now. COAH was my lifesaver in so many ways. Thank you so much for all you do.

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We’ve been homeschooling for seven years now. Wow! It seems crazy to say that. It feels like we just started. We have five children from 2nd grade to 6th grade. We decided to homeschool for lots of reasons. It’s been a wonderful experience for us. I love being with my kids all day, teaching them and seeing them enjoy learning.
We are a traditional-style classroom and very eclectic.

Hi,
I’m Rivkah/ Rebecca and I have been homeschooling for 5 years (Going on our 6th this year) I have 4 children ages 8-1
I am definitely eclectic there are a lot of elements from different methods that appeal to me, Funnily enough although I lean towards CM’s way of teaching I have been a pretty traditional homeschooler up until this point and have been slowly changing things up. I think this year is going to be a drastic change for us.
I started homeschooling because I really felt led by God to do so. I had no intention of doing it and then started entertaining the idea. Finally I asked a friend what she thought only to find out she had been homeschooling for 4 years already and the conference was coming up in just a few months! I decided to go while the children were still young enough for me to figure out if it was definitely for our family and we have never looked back! :smile:

Hi! I’m Anna and I have two boys. My oldest is only 3 1/2 so we haven’t officially started homeschooling yet. But I am learning so much as I prepare for the coming years. I am so thankful for some many blogs such as this and others that help me to feel equipped and encouraged in making this decision for our family. I know it will be challenging but so worth it in the end!

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Hello, I’m Lindsey.
I’ve been homeschooling for 2 years and have two children. I do more traditional type schooling but recently starting to branch out to more alternative ways to approach subjects and learning. Definately getting more hands on in many areas. My youngest is only 3, so any way to keep him happily engaged while my second grader learns is great for me. We started homeschooling because my oldest who is 6, asked to learn to read at 3, and her brain just took off. She is in second grade now and just turned six last month. With homeschooling I can properly challenge her and speed up or slow down so she learns and it’s fun. My 3 yr old loves doing “school” with his sister and is taking off in her foot steps. It can be challenging and Definately I’ve had many heart to heart talks with God on why I’d rather not follow His intended path, I know… A futile exercise… But your website has been a huge help for me. Especially to remember to remind myself why we are homeschooling and what’s really important in this life. Looking forward to the great advice and insight this new forum will bring!

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Hi! My name is Vanessa and I’m homeschooling my daughter for the second year. Last year we did preschool and we are currently doing kindergarten. I feel blesses that I found COAH as it has been my to go place to find encouragement, resources, curriculum, ideas… etc… I live in Chicago and I’m happy that IL is a great state to homeschooling. I dove into the Homeschooling without much research, just loving the idea of being the one who would teach my daughter and be part of her school adventures. Soon enough, I realized I needed more guidance, more information and that’s how I found COAH and through COAH I found many other great websites.
I love homeschooling my daughter and she loves it as well. We have lots of fun together and I’m grateful that my husband is very supportive and helpful. We strive to follow and to apply Bible principles in our lives and being able to homeschool my daughter is helping me to inculcate the love I have for God on her as well.
Hope to get to know more families and be active in this community as I can be!

Hi, I’m Rose. I love homeschooling because I enjoy spending quality time with our daughters. We use a structured, very traditional curriculum as our flexible base, but we creatively incorporate interests as the children direct some of their own learning, too. We are Christian, so it’s really nice to be able to teach our children the Fruits of the Spirit in life as we learn together. I learn so much from my daughters everyday. I was a K-2nd grade teacher and middle school counselor before becoming a mommy. Common Core is ridiculous, so I had to step in and do something about it for my kids. It’s also crazy how much the schools have changed, and that’s not in a good way.

Erica, thank you for all your lessons and printables. I’ve learned so much from you. :smile:

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Hi! I’m amandalee! I have 3 children and just began homeschooling last year. I felt passionate about it and want my children to grow in a Godly learning environment. I like Charlotte mason but when I’m not sure I lean to traditional.

I’m Heather. We have three kids (6.5, 5, 2)- 1st, prek/k, and wants to be involved. We have more traditional I guess. I like the other methods just need to plan more I think. And don’t feel like I have anytime to plan. :wink: we started homeschooling because our son was ready for more than what preschool was going to offer.

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