To Homeschool Zoo!

ABOUT US

We homeschooled year 'round here in Central Arkansas, where we live in the foothills of the Ozarks and enjoy breathtaking scenes every day. Brandon and Elizabeth have finished school and look forward to further training to make them ready to face the futures God has in store for them.

They began by working at local restaurants, learning business from the ground up. Brandon is now an Associate Manager at McDonald's and is continuing to advance there. Elizabeth attended a local beauty school and got her license in Aesthetics, which is make-up, facials, waxing, and other skin helps. She also worked in the restaurant business for awhile, but now is working with a local eye doctor. She keeps her Aesthetics license up to date, though, so she can possibly use that at some point in the future.

We have homeschooled using Bible based curriculum. We liked Alpha Omega very well as the backbone of our homeschool, but also use free internet curriculum. In a sense, we have been eclectic homeschoolers choosing to study and research things which pique our interest. We ran a lot of "rabbit trails" in our homeschool!

Brandon, Elizabeth, and I attend House of Prayer in Greenbrier, AR. They have both been part of the youth leadership team. Brandon learned to operate the light and sound equipment for regular services as well as for the youth services. He built the youth group web page for Trinity Faith Tabernacle - Fusion Student Ministries. Both have also worked very hard with the fundraisers that help all the kids participate in activities where money is required. They also helped with part of the maintenance at the church, when asked.

Danny, my husband, was a dump truck driver. He was home every day, which was a real blessing, but the hours were long on days that aren't rainy. He worked very hard to make it possible for me to stay home with our two teens and homeschool them. We loved and appreciated him very much as the bread winner and head of our home. He was beginning a new adventure of woodcrafting, hoping that eventually we could make some life changes which included him being home more. Sadly, Danny was diagnosed with lung cancer in August of 2005 and graduated to heaven on Christmas Eve the same year.

I was a stay-at-home-mom. My days were full and busy with crafting, gardening, housekeeping, sewing, crocheting, and food preservation and preparation. I am an avid bargain hunter and a confirmed do-it-yourselfer. My favorite things to grow in the garden are herbs. They are a wonderful addition to so many recipes, and fresh herbs are simply so much tastier than the dried stuff from the store. Even the dehydrated herbs we grow at home retain so much flavor!

Because our ground is so rocky here, we raised all our plants in raised beds, which Danny constructed from logs he cut while clearing part of the land. He put them together log cabin style and we filled them with some wonderful sandy loam we get from nearby. We raised a garden every year which supplied us with lots of fresh, yummy vegetables and usually enough to can or freeze for winter.

We used to have chickens but I became sick with a lung fungus from them and had to have surgery. It's very rare, so if you have chickens you really don't have to be afraid of that. I was the only one in our family to get this.

Since Danny's passing, my life has changed drastically. I'm now working at McDonald's alongside Brandon as an Associate Manager. I supplement my income by posting paid posts on my blogs. We are also planning to move into town where we won't have to travel so far to get to work. Since I have little time for gardening these days, a move is in order. I can't take proper care of this country place anymore. Of course, I'll still raise my herbs in pots.

For now here's where you can take a look at our raised bed gardens. Hopefully in the future I can find time to take and upload more current pictures.

This is my family and myself from left to right: My late husband Danny, Ann (me), Elizabeth, and Brandon

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Psalms 127:3-5, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Proverbs 14:1, "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands."

Proverbs 31:10-12, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."

Proverbs 31:28, "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

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From where we are located, we can reach almost any of the lovely Arkansas state parks within just a couple of hours. Those make great day trips and visiting a park with a naturalist on site makes it not only fun but educational. We also love camping at Arkansas state parks, which we think are among the best in the nation. The on-site interpreters and re-enactors give families lots of interesting things to do and learn.

We really love tent camping and have two tents, as well as all the other paraphernalia that goes along with camping. Tent camping can be as primitive as you like, or just about as modern. State parks offer a wide range of camping facilities in Arkansas and the daily fees are very reasonable. Fresh, hot coffee made over a campfire where there's also bacon frying and biscuits baking in a Dutch oven for breakfast...Yum! Just the aroma will awaken your appetite in the morning!