Hi there! My name is Elizabeth and I am a second generation homeschool mom, co-op teacher, & former early childhood education student. I have 3 kiddos and am currently teaching grades 3rd, 1st, & preschool!
I’ve always dreamed of homeschooling my kids. In fact, just for fun, I started designing my own lesson plans and curriculum ideas at the age of 15! Talk about being a nerdy teenager! But really…I do truly think there is something so incredible about getting to craft an individualized education experience for your child and then having the opportunity to walk them through it.
Many years ago, I began to also dream about blogging and sharing more of our homeschool adventure. I opened up my little TPT store in 2018 and slowly added a few of the homeschool resources I had created, with the hope to begin posting blogs and creating YouTube videos to record our journey.
However, a couple years later, everything came to a stop…
In 2021 I survived an acute ischemic stroke in my middle cerebral artery at the age of 31 and lost the ability to read, write, or talk coherently (along with other impairments).
By the time I was transferred to a bigger hospital, I couldn’t even remember how to say my husband’s name, how old I was, the days of the week, who the president was, where I was at, how to say my kids names…it was terrifying to have to fight my body for such basic knowledge and awareness.
I ended up going through so many tests and procedures to find the cause of the stroke. Unfortunately, nothing explained why I had it and, one by one, the doctors started to write me off as a medical mystery. And only left me with the knowledge that I had a high risk of suffering another.
This all made me realize that “having enough time to chase our dreams and live our lives” isn’t the only thing to worry about…because we also don’t know how long we will have the ABILITY to pursue our dreams.
I realized that I COULD live until I was 95…but that doesn’t mean I could always write or create blog posts or do all the things that came easily to me until then.
When the threat of instant death or disability hangs over your head every day…it really can change your perspective on everything.
And this perspective (and a newfound gratitude to be alive) really changed me. Life is such a beautiful, fragile gift. I wanted to make better choices to honor this second chance at life I felt like I had been given – including not putting off the things that make my soul happy, like writing, blogging, and being creative.
It took time and therapy, but two years later I’m so happy to feel able to come back to this dream of mine to blog and connect with you here.
So thank you for stopping by and getting to know me for a minute! Words can’t express how grateful I feel to be able to share here and your support of those efforts by downloading a PDF, sharing a blog post, or checking out my shop truly means the world to me! I appreciate you 🙂
At the end of the day, I hope your visit leaves you feeling reminded how homeschooling is such a beautiful gift! Make this time fun! Enjoy the magic of these days. Soak up the extra time with your child. Go on all the adventures. Read the books. Explore the world. I hope that the printables and resources here will inspire, enrich, give joy, and bring some extra fun into your homeschool classroom!
