I subscribe to several different e-mail groups, and quite often people join up and submit a little “blurb” about themselves by way of introduction. Usually these things are fairly boring. For example, here’s what I wrote to introduce myself to the “ACE” group:

My name is Christie, and I grew up using the ACE curriculum. Now, as the mother of six children, I am using ACE to teach them.

Since my only exposure to schooling has been ACE, I’m curious to know how others view it compared to other curriculums.

Also, I’m curious to hear ideas for creatively applying the curriculum for use with kids with ADD.

Thanks,

Christie

Yes, I know. Stifle those yawns. Most folks write something quite forgettable like I did. But every now and then someone writes an introduction that is worth re-reading. When I read this one that I’m going to share with you, I was so intrigued that I sent it to my sister. She agreed that it would be fun to post it on the website, so I asked permission from Cindy to share it here. I hope you enjoy meeting her as much as I did!

Hi everyone, My name is Cindy. I am new to this group. My hubbies name is Mark. We have been married 14 years. We have 7 children, Logan -13, Wyatt - 11, Sierra -9, Trevor -7, Ariel -5, Cameo -2, and Garrett -9 mo. None of them have had birthdays yet this year, so they all go up throughout the year.

We have homeschooled them all since birth (my husband’s favorite line when asked how long we have homeschooled). We plan to homeschool them all through highschool. We live in Sacramento, CA. There are actually a lot of conservative Christians here in CA, contrary to what you hear in the news, but I am ashamed to say we are out numbered most of the time. I am blessed to have a husband that takes his job as Husband and Father very serious. He reads the Bible to our family and we worship together. He also reads other literature to us after Bible Time when its not too late. He spends lots of time with us at home and helps with homeschooling. He reads out loud to me also during our own devotions together. I guess one would call him a homebody. I am blessed beyond measure!

After watching our first son being born, my husband wanted only that 1 child. I wanted 5, thinking we would settle somewhere in
between. Around pregnancy 4, he asked me what I thought about
having 6 … I said I would have as many as he wanted. I never thought he would take me up on it. Our growing family is because of his vision of what he knows God wants for us. Again, I am blessed beyond measure.

When our 5th child was born in Oct 2000, we were doing Unit Studies. I really loved Unit Studies, but now I had 5 children 8 and under. My 2 school aged children did Math and Spelling that that school year, but nothing else until our first Unit Study in May. My husband advised me to contact all the other large families we know and find out what they were using for school. I have several friends that have large families, and one was using School of Tomorrow. She had 10 children (2 had already graduated using SofT, and her youngest child was a new baby just like mine at the time). She told me all about SofT. I was sold as soon as I heard about “no Teachers Manuals” and how Christian based it was. I had some of these teachers manuals already and that was a nightmare and I was piecing curriculum together from lots of sources that weren’t all Christian based. I started the next school year with a 4th, 2nd, and K (I did buy the manuals for K and then later 1st). It was answer to prayer. We now actually get school done, and all the time. We plan
to use it always, especially with our growing family. It works and
we love it.

As for myself, I enjoy being a stay at home mom. When people ask me what I do, I tell them I am blessed to be able to stay at home and raise our children and teach them at home … this is usually good for a shocker and some conversation and sometimes opens the door for me to share about God. It is a daily challenge to be a good wife and mother and require lots of God’s help. I like to cook and bake, but don’t sew, iron, or dust. The one chore that I like the least is laundry, and so it is always covering the whole washroom floor. I have used cloth diapers for all of my kids (I use disposables when we leave the house). And yes, My dear hubby changes a lot of cloth diapers also. I love a good steak that someone else has cooked. I also love good conversation with other women. Well, I can get carried away when someone asks me to tell them about myself in an intro … I start talking about my husband, my kids, God, or homeschooling, 4 things I am passionate about, and before long so much time has passed. I look forward to getting to know you all.
God Bless you all.
Have a Better than Great Day in the Lord ! Cindy

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting Cindy as much as I did. I’m off to start my day!