Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sailing by Ashbreeze


It has taken me absolutely forever, but I am finally going to introduce my Mini Crew.

What is a Mini Crew?  Well, as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was asked to sign on for a second year as a "First Mate."  This means that I take on a couple extra responsibilities -- one is to have a group of incredibly cool people assigned to me.  I sent out a couple of emails to help them learn about this Crew, and checked to be sure they found the linkies. 

We did choose a name for ourselves, and Tess designed a button here a couple of weeks ago.  So first:  our name.

At least a couple of us have read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which was the inspiration for our name.  Sailing by the Ash Breeze is for when you are becalmed and have to break out oars (oars are/were made primarily of White Ash). Make your own "breeze" so to speak.  Sailing by the Ash Breeze referred to more than just the sailing in the book.  It was used whenever life got really difficult and you had to go the extra mile or put in that extra effort.  I use the phrase a lot...  And as many of us in our mini-crew have some type of special needs within our home (three of us are dealing with dyslexia, but there are other more significant issues too), well, the name worked.

So -- who are we?  I'll introduce my crew alphabetically.

Deanna at Deanna's Corner is in her second year of officially homeschooling her two boys (8th grade and 3rd grade).  She began as her boys were losing their love of learning.  Now they do all kinds of fabulous things like robotics and playing the trumpet.  Deanna and her beautiful family live in Mississippi, she reads at least as much as I do, okay, probably more.  I love reading her blog, though I don't comment anywhere near as often as I should.

Heather at Special Needs Homeschooling, is homeschooling her five children, all with special needs.  Her kids range from ages 2 to 12, and they are in West Virginia.  Heather writes and speaks fairly frequently on special needs homeschooling, just like her blog title.  I had the chance to hear Heather speak before she became part of my crew, so I did "know" her a bit.  It has been a lot of fun getting to know her personally.

Julie at Simple Thoughts is brand new to blogging, but not to homeschooling.  She's homeschooled for six years, and has two boys, ages 16 and 14.  She's a busy lady, chairing her county's homeschool support group along with lots and lots of outdoor activity.  She also makes me think I need to take a trip Southeast, as she is in Tennessee (TN, WV, MS... I could meet almost everyone!)

Tess at Circling Through This Life, is someone I've known for awhile.  She started investigating homeschooling when her oldest was only 14 months, and she started homeschooling using Sonlight's PreK program when that now 15 year old was 4.  That's how I met her... Her four daughters are 11 through 15, and they are in the opposite corner of the country, in Washington. 

and, of course, me.  But you probably know me already.  I homeschool five children, ages 4-13. I feel like such a slacker compared to the amazing women in my mini-crew, but hey, they are stuck with me.  Let's see, I've been homeschooling from the start, and we live in Colorado.

Go visit some of my new friends -- and leave them a comment too, while you are at it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

you make me sound so cool! thanks for being a great mentor in this blog thingy!!! I'll catch up on it eventually!
Julie in "really cool" TN

Heidi said...

How timely! Brenda and I are featuring you and your team tomorrow in Walkin' the Crew Blogs. I'm going to grab your button to add to my post. :)

Debra said...

Heidi--

Oh, I'm so glad I wrote this up this weekend! I was thinking I needed to email a link to this to you & Brenda... I guess maybe just Brenda :)

Deanna said...

You are the absolute best! I would be so lost without your amazing direction and guidance.

gfcfmomofmany said...

OH the baby was SOOOO young 2! This was a great blast from the past.

God bless
Heather Laurie