My Interview with Sarah from My Peace and Joy

This is my interview with Sarah. She homeschools too. Thanks for the interview, Sarah!

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Where do you live?
I live in Massachusetts. We moved here 14 months ago from Oklahoma, so we have been going through a little bit of culture shock, but we are thoroughly enjoying our time here. We were warned that New England folk could be abrupt and rude, but we have found the opposite to be true. We have not yet (Praise God!) had any negative encounters with the good people in our area.

What is it like where you live?
Massachusetts is beautiful and exactly how I always pictured New England. The streets are lined with gorgeous trees that branch out over the roads. All along the roads are quaint rock walls. Everywhere we look, there is green. And the seasons in Massachusetts are wonderful: fall is so beautiful with bright colors and falling leaves everywhere; winter brings snow that is perfect for sledding; spring is full of flowers and interesting critters; and summer is warm without being stifling.

You homeschool too. Do you like it? Why did you decide to homeschool?
I do like it. I believe this is definitely the best choice for my family, even though the choice was not easy to make. I agonized over whether I felt I could homeschool my kids and whether they would be better off at home or in public schools. After reading every book on homeschooling that I could find in the library, and a few that I bought, I realized that this was a decision I felt very strongly about.

I am homeschooling for many reasons, too many to outline here. But a few of the big ones are:

1) I want to know what my kids are learning and I want to explore the world with them.

2) I want my kids to have a strong knowledge and understanding of the world around them and I want them to be strong-minded, informed citizens. I want them to firmly understand how history has shaped our world today and how our decisions are going to affect the world 10, 20, 50 and 100 years from now. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that is a goal of public schools anymore.

3) I want my children to be able to learn at their own pace, not at the pace of a classroom full of kids. If something isn’t working, I want to be able to stop and find something better.

4) I want to be sure that they are retaining information and not just learning it long enough to get the grade (which is what I was able to do throughout my entire education – including college).

5) I want the time that my kids are being educated to be productive time. I feel that too much time in public schools is spent lining the kids up, walking to and from classrooms, waiting for everyone to finish the assigned task, cleaning up, etc. By homeschooling, we are able to fit more individualized learning into the day.

6) I like being able to schedule school around life. If there is an interesting festival or museum exhibit or what-have-you, we don’t have to wait until the kids get home from school. We can take a fieldtrip and make up the missed lessons later that day or over the weekend.

What is your favorite color? Why?
Yellow. It is cheerful…sunny…warm. And it’s a color that you often see in flowers, which I love: daffodils, sunflowers, daisies, pansies, etc.

What else do you like to do in your free time?
Free time? Could you define that for me? Just kidding. J

I love scrapbooking, crocheting and knitting, although I have been setting those hobbies aside for the past year to focus on other things. Since we moved to Massachusetts, my kids, my sweetie (husband) and I have spent most of our time exploring New England. We love to take daytrips on the weekends and go camping or sightseeing. I also love socializing/entertaining friends. We live on the campus at seminary, so other wives/moms and I will go have coffee together, or my sweetie and I will get together with friends to play board games in the evenings.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
My future ambitions changed quite frequently when I was little, but I think that the majority of the time I wanted to be a Rodeo Princess…until I reached high school, then I wanted to be a supreme court justice. I was quite ambitious in my younger years! J

What do you think about when you are going to sleep at night?
Many, many random thoughts. My day tends to fly by quicker than I can process, so when I lay down at night, that is my time to process the day and converse with God about what went well and what didn’t. I also start thinking about what I want to accomplish the next day. I have to be careful, though, or my thoughts will start swirling so fast I’ll find myself back out of bed and making to-do lists. J

Do you have any pets? What is your favorite kind of pet?
Unfortunately, no. We are not allowed to have any pets while we are living on campus, much to the disappointment of my son, who desperately wants to have a dog. I, on the other hand, am a cat person. I can handle dogs, but cats fit my personality better.

I am a night person. Are you a night person or a morning person?
Definitely a night person, although I am attempting to become more disciplined about waking up in the morning. It is very easy for me to lose track of time and stay up way too late, but I find that my day goes much better if I am able to wake up a couple hours before my kids so that I can spend some time with God and exercise/shower in the quiet of the morning.

Do you like books? What do you like to read?
I LOVE BOOKS! I was definitely a bookworm as a child, and, as an adult, continue to love reading a variety of genres. When I am tired or overwhelmed, I like a good fluff book, such as books by Jeanette Oke or Jan Karon – easy to read with sweet story lines. Otherwise, I enjoy books that make me think — biographies, classics, books on politics or current social events, etc. Currently, I am reading In A Far Country, The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder, and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898, by John Taliaferro. It is the true story of John and Ellen Lopp, missionaries to Alaska in the late 1800’s. Very interesting!