My family visiting the redwoods Summer 2017

Hi, my name is Melinda. And in the picture above, you’ll see my pile of Pates.  We are a Christian family that is active in our local church as well as being active in our homeschool co-op. Which leads me to the fact that I’m a stay at home mom who homeschools her 5 children. As of the 2017-2018 school year, this is our 7th year homeschooling.  We live in Southern California, drive a big white 12 passenger van, and usually attract attention wherever we go.

Is it the behemoth van?

Is it because I have 5 children who are for the most part about 2 years apart?

Or is it their different shades of red hair (except for my one blondie!)?

Or is it because they are all pretty adorable?

My 4 older kids at the Aquarium of the Pacific

I’m going to go with “Adorable!”

But let me confess something: Homeschooling is hard and sometimes I get discouraged. Parenting is hard enough, and then homeschooling takes it up a notch. Or ten notches, maybe. Whether you are homeschooling a singleton, a small brood, or a large one, homeschooling can take the wind out of your sails and make you question all your life choices. Don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful, priceless things about homeschooling, but there are also some really hard things and hard attitudes we homeschooling parents come up against. 

Nothing like an awkward camping selfie, but I was letting my hair down and had to document it!

So who am I? Well, if you agreed with the previous paragraph, then I am someone just like you, a homeschooling mom trying to make sense of educating my children, and trying to do so in the best and sanest way possible! And one who is trying to teach her kids to stop whining and to pick up their stuff, am I right??

I hope you will consider subscribing to my mailing list. This site is a place for us to learn together and grow as we all take this parenting and homeschooling journey together. I hope it will be inspiring, entertaining, and encouraging. A little more about what this website is about can be found here: What Now?

— Melinda @ Pile of Pates