My hearts desire... a little history

I have a passion that I realized while homeschooling (and even before I started). It is curriculum- and my biggest interest within that is teaching with a Charlotte Mason philosophy/bentness. I was an education major in college, was an enjoyer and lover of children of all ages, and an avid reader. I have always enjoyed learning, and specifically from first-hand sources.

I knew that I wanted to homeschool when my first was very young, so I started asking a lot of questions about homeschooling, different methods, curriculum, etc. I heard about a woman from England who lived at the turn of the last century, so I followed that thread, and what I found was a treasure trove of ideas... a philosophy of education that rang true! I first read about her, and then I got my hands on her actual writings, and I literally devoured them; I was so excited. And then, I found a group of women who also liked this way of "doing school". We met together for many years, and I gleaned so much with and from these women as we read Charlotte Mason's own writings, and numerous other sources that resonated with her philosophy. We (the moms) were putting into practice the things we were learning (or in some cases, moms had been doing it for years), and we were coming together monthly to share with each other, and to continue our learning.

One of the statements that I heard, pondered, etc. was this...do you want your child to have a lot of information when they are done with school, or do you want to have helped create a lifelong learner? The answer is pretty obvious, I think.

Well, many years later, I have been homeschooling this way for 5 years, and I still love it; it still rings true. Through the years, I have delved deep into the world of homeschool curriculum, and excellent children's literature. I am always excited about helping people with their curriculum choices, and trying to help them tweak the ideas to their own home, their own city, country, etc.

I have helped many people and even a school make curriculum choices. I spend a good bit of time in thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales, etc. looking for the great "living books" that are out there... the types of books that I and my friends want for our little "schoolrooms". I buy them up and pass them on to fellow homeschoolers and teachers.

Now, I am realizing that my passion is something that can help many people, and that could help my family financially in our endeavor to support 7 people on one income. I am organizing my daily schedules, yearly book lists, tips on making history and geography fit your area, etc. I guess I am becoming an "official" homeschool consultant, but what I really feel like is a mom who wants to share her heart and passion for education with others.

I am trying to come up with prices per hour for consulting, what a "package" of a years curriculum would cost for me to put together, and what I would charge for simple word documents like examples of my daily, weekly, semester schedules would look like. I also I am pulling together my information on various church year holidays for people.

Let me know if you are interested.

humbly, parke