A Rewarding Life: Member Interview with Katie McCall Bragg

A Rewarding Life: Member Interview with Katie McCall Bragg

by | Sep 9, 2011 | Featured Fridays | 4 comments

Welcome to the first of a series of interviews with homeschooling families in the beautiful Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Katie McCall Bragg is an enthusiastic and thoughtful homeschooling mom, who is passionate about her newfound lifestyle.     1. Tell us a bit about your family. We have 3 kids: Jacob (12), Emma (9) and Samantha (7).  Family is so important to us.  We pulled our kids out of school last year, so this will be our second year homeschooling. 2. Have you always known you wanted to homeschool? No.  Our kids started off in the school system.  Before we pulled them out, we were starting to have a really hard time with the school system.  For one, Emma was getting frequent migraines in school.  And Jacob went from a boy who loved learning everything, to, like a flower, curling up and starting to whither and die.  We knew we had to do something. When we started homeschooling, we had some real resistance from some people.  They were worried about socialization.  But now, people who don’t even know we homeschool have noticed the difference in our children.  They stop me and ask what we did with Jacob.  How he has become such a different boy than they one they remembered.  So much happier. 3. What is your favorite thing about homeschooling? In school, your kids are stuck in a group with people of the exact same age.  In real life, half the time you don’t even know how old your friends are.  Now, our kids best friends are all a few years older or younger than...
The Library Card: A Homeschooler’s Best Friend

The Library Card: A Homeschooler’s Best Friend

by | Aug 28, 2011 | Inspiration Mondays | 15 comments

Okay, so I am a public librarian.  Which makes me kind of biased.  However, I really don’t think there is a conflict of interest here – so I’m going to soldier on.  The library card: a homeschooler’s best friend.  I stand by this statement.   I realize that some homeschoolers like to purchase a complete curriculum (or two or three…) and perhaps may think of their visits to the public library as secondary in nature.  Useful for support materials.  I would like to make the case that every homeschooler should be intimately connected to their local public library.  Why? It can be your number one resource.  Books are obvious.  But, your public librarian can also host classes for your homeschool group, recommend great books and resources you wouldn’t know about on your own, show you how to conduct research, evaluate information, and be a great community connection for your child. It’s your place.  There is a movement within public libraries to function as the “living room” of a community.  How successful this has been will vary greatly by library and experience.  You, being on the outside looking in, would probably know better than I.  But, those of you who have found a special place in your local library, will identify.  Not only is the public library a great place (to read, to spend time, to make a part of your weekly routine), it is also your place.  As in, you pay taxes to make it exist.  You have a vested interest in it – so make it your own.  We go to our local library every Monday.  It makes...
Learning & Surfing: Homeschooling in Hawaii

Learning & Surfing: Homeschooling in Hawaii

by | Aug 25, 2011 | Featured Fridays | 1 comment

  Check out our interview with Minti Li (mother of twin preschoolers) from Maui, Hawaii. Tell us a bit about your family. Our family consists of four member: Jason Sloan (28 almost 29), Minti Sloan (32), Lila Sloan (2 1/2 almost three), Talia Sloan (Same) We love Jesus, and that is the number one thing that we desire as the center and foundation of our children’s life. We love doing things together as a family, and Jason and I make parenting a priority after God and our marriage. We try to read many biblical parenting books, and I just started reading some homeschool books. To us, parenting is a privilege. That is why we try to learn as much as we can about it, so that we really learn how to do a good job with our kids. We love being active, and surf together as a family once a week (the girls wear life jackets and we take them out on our boards).  We try to do many things together as a family, from home life, school, social life, church, sports etc. Of course the girls get time to play on their own with friends, too. Have you always known you wanted to homeschool? I absolutely never wanted to homeschool….until the girls were born, and I loved every moment of seeing them grow and learn. I just didn’t want to miss out on any of it! Jason was homeschooled and always wanted me to do it. I thought I would go crazy staying at home doing homeschool, but I actually LOVE IT. It is incredibly rewarding to be able to watch my...