Expanded intro and philosophy

I homeschool my children following the ideals of Charlotte Mason, and of course, enjoy the bountiful style of education her methods provide. I absolutely love teaching and learning with my children. We’re all doodlers, writers, and weather-watchers, but are just learning to sketch still life and keep formal nature notebooks; we all absolutely love it!
I also enjoy studying history, reading great literature on a variety of subjects, writing, gardening, wildcrafting, cooking, baking, canning, and doing pretty much anything with my hands from knitting, sewing, and felting to building furniture and tree houses.
Some day my husband and I hope to build our own home using the cordwood method.
I love to hike and take walks, and I also try to find time to ice skate, swim, and in the summer, bike. It’s imperative that we have daily doses of fresh air and exercise. Keeping our bodies healthy with proper nutrition and exercise is extremely important to me. Whole, organically grown foods and daily walks “through the woods” are as important to me as what we are learning academically.
I feel a great responsibility to provide ample opportunities for my children to build strong relationships with their family, other people, and the world around them.
Children (and all people!) should have access to the best ideas, literature, music, science, art, etc. available.
It has been said that “Education is the science of relations.” Humankind has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts; I feel it is our responsibility as parents to provide the best that life has to offer to enable our children to make sense of these relations. It is said that an educated adult, when presented with new information or ideas, will already know something with which to connect the new knowledge.
We are fellow students of life with our children, and as such, I do not pretend to be the sole source of all information, rather, I try to share as much as I know and give my children the inspiration and tools to discover more on their own.
It is the ultimate responsibility of the parent-teacher to raise children who have developed a love for learning, a desire for knowledge, and the skills to pursue these independently.