our story + homeschool.

Homeschool was not on our radar as a family.

Before having kids, Tony and I simply thought our kids would receive the kind of education that we had. No need to change what worked for us. Tony went to private school from kindergarten through college, while I went to public school kindergarten through grad school. Growing up in our "era", homeschooled kids were few and far between... and let's be real, they were thought of as "unsocialized" and just plain weird.

a quick background.

My husband Tony and I met in junior high, but didn't start dating until the end of college. We've been together for 15+ years, married for 11 years. We have three babes, one daughter Charlee (8) and two sons, Anthony (6) and Gianni (4). We love the Lord and desire to follow and serve Him with our lives daily. We live in Los Angeles, California.

Throughout college, I worked as a graphic designer & calligrapher for a quaint little stationery shop and loved it.  I graduated from California State, Long Beach with a BA in Liberal Studies, a Multiple Subject Credential, a Minor in Science & an MA in Reading Education. After graduating, I began teaching elementary school and loved using art within the classroom to inspire further learning and creativity. I taught (mainly first grade) for six years. While I loved teaching, my dream since I was a little girl was to be a stay-at-home mom like my own mom! Staying home became a priority for us. So once we had Charlee, I decided to open an Etsy shop to not only have a creative outlet, but also help our family financially. My entire shop is hand illustrated by me. I create business branding, logos, rubber stamps, invitations, school and home printables that make life a bit more fun and organized!

My hope for this space is to inspire creativity, a love for learning, offer you some ideas and pass along free goodies that I'll create as we go.

why homeschool.

Charlee went to Kindergarten at the local public school down the street from our home. It was a good year, nothing went "wrong", but we felt something was missing. The focus of the school system and curriculum had already started drastically changing from just five years prior, when I was in the classroom. While we could look at that as the world just changing and evolving, we wanted to have more say in what our kids were learning, not less. Our desire was for our kids education to be solid and centered around God.

As more and more friends began homeschooling, I was intrigued and excited to think of all the possibilities that could entail. At first, the idea seemed daunting and a little nuts. Didn't I want to eventually have all the kids in school so I could do more design work, illustrating, and have some *actual "free time" for me?

We started praying about what we should do. What would that look like for our family? It was such a different way of life compared to what we grew up with, yet we wanted it and felt God leading us in that direction. We decided to try it out and agreed that we would re-evaluate year to year. In fall 2018, we began our first year schooling from home. While the year was full of ups and downs, changes, and adjusting - it was also full of fun, new experiences, learning, growing and overall, such a great year. Two school years later, here we are, looking forward to year three!