Karen Joy
I’m a homeschooling mom with five kids — three boys aged 11, 9, and 7 years, a 2yo girl, and a baby girl who was born on 10/22/08. My dear hubby is a home designer (like an architect w/o AIA certification) for a large home builder, and he’s also the worship pastor at our church .
We school with Sonlight, which IMO, is an excellent program: literature-based, Christian but not dogmatic, heavy on history and reading. I like everything about SL except for the Language Arts. We are in our 7th year of homeschooling. I initially started homeschooling simply to teach my oldest to read, so he’d have a leg up on things when he went to “real” school. But when he learned to read with ease, and his then-3yo brother right along with him, I decided to stick with it.
I like birding, camping, shorter hikes (the legs of my littles can’t go so far…), doing about anything out in nature. 
If you’re a glutton for wordiness, there’s more about me on this page .
Wesley & me, July 2006
hiya, just saying hello so i’m not a peeper
. i live in texas with my husband and almost 3 year old. i lived some of my life in arizona. we’re christians and plan to homeschool. have a Merry Christmas!
Hi-
At one time when I stumbled onto your blog I had read a blog of yours and you were knitting socks for yourself and in the blog you mentioned a place online that sold sock wool. When I talked to my mother today she mentioned going to a local ladies place and getting some sock wool but the prices were so steep that in the end a pair of socks for her size 10’s would wind up costing her $20. I breezed through a few of your blogs hoping to find the one that mentioned the online (I thought) place you had wanted to buy some yarn and I thought since you are a very conservative spender that maybe that store would be a perfect place for my mom to check for the yarns she wants. Could you please tell me the place? I don’t know if you are allowed to see my email attached to my comment but if so, please feel free to use it if you have a reply, otherwise I will check back on your blog page here in a week or so. Sadly, Jo-Ann Fabrics left Danville, IL long ago and Walmart downsized their selection of yarns and crafts stuff not long ago so she isn’t happy with the options left to her. Thank you very much in advance for any help/advice you might have to offer.
Sincerely,
Amy B80 (Baity)
Hi Kaeen, We have soooo much in common! I to am a mother to 5 beautiful children, a daughter 9, identical twin boys 6, another daughter 4 and a new baby girl born in June of 08. We are homeschoolers with gluten intolerance who do not attend support groups- or formal support groups. I have been lucky enough to find a group of 6 or so ladies who are just like us! We meet once a week for story time and chit chat at the library, as well as once a week at a park or indoor gym. We have varied numbers of children, (most, if not all ,smaller families that ours), at varied ages! Some moms are gluten free as well and we discuss our health issues, gf recipies, and yes- who uses spelling power and what is a great 5th grade math program!?! My friends are my support. That has happened by being lucky enough to find people & kids just like us and CHOOSING to be with people like us has made all the difference. I agree it is useless to join one of those crazy groups yet every year i find myself talking to someone or checking the listings for the latest and greatest group. i do the same with curriculums by the way! I have never joined because I know they would not be there to tell me I’m doing more than enough when I think I’m not, or letting me check out their 3 language arts programs they have already tried. I’m not sure if you are in Maine-but if you are, you’ll have to come visit! Also, I never read blogs or post in them- something or should I say, Someone led me right to you!! Take Care and blessings to your beautiful family!!! Dawn Donovan
My youngest is a little girl Davie Joy, I thought that was your daughter’s name, sorry about that!
I have three boys 7, 5 and 22mo my only girl is Davie 4mo. I’m happy to know other down to earth normal people are crazy enough to let the Lord bless them with a quiver full of children!
I’m so thankful I happened upon your blog. I am in the process of diagnosing what may be Celiac and have been doing as much research I as can. It’s wonderful knowing there’s “support” out there and even a bigger blessing to find a Godly woman whose writings encourage and entertain and inspire me. I’ve read through your “about me” section and found a great many similarities. Thank you for allowing me to share in your life.
Hi Karen, I came accross your site this morning from DebtFreeAdventure. The two quotes you have posted on your pages are quite stunning, and I’ve sent them out to a bunch of friends. They hit on two issues that are real stumbling blocks for believers right now. If you don’t mind, I’m thinking about posting them somewhere on my own site. Thanks, Kevin
Of course, do whatever you’d like with the quotes!! I’m very pleased that they impacted you.
Great minds….
Just wanted to let you know that we recently made improvements to our Healthy Birth Your Way videos (embedded on your blog) and as of Thursday, August 27, will post them on our website http://www.MothersAdvocate.org and at http://www.YouTube.com/MothersAdvocate. Unfortunately, this change requires you to re-link the videos to your website or blog (after Thursday). We apologize for any inconvenience, but we believe these changes greatly improve the quality of the videos.
Additionally, we encourage you to post a link to Mothers Advocate on your website or blog. Just go to http://www.injoyvideos.com/mothersadvocate/share.link.html and find several graphic options to choose from.
If you have any questions, please contact us at mothersadvocate@mothersadvocate.org.
Thanks,
Mother’s Advocate