About Us

We live on the Canadian prairie. We homeschool because we believe that humans should not be mass-manufactured. We’ve always preferred pottery mugs to factory cups and original art to prints. We’ve been trying to live our lives as consciously and mindfully as possibly, feeling as though we were creating life-art, or at least like we were artisans. Recently, though, the world has broken open in a shower of a thousand seeds falling on fertile ground. Everywhere we look there’s some new skill to learn, some new thing to make. Life is beautiful.

Roll Call:

Me: I’m a former Mennonite, former punk, left-leaning feminist. I’m a La Leche League Leader, a Weight Watchers Leader, and I run the secular homeschooling site The Denim Jumper. I’m silly. I’m serious. I run on a treadmill to save my sanity and my waistline. The ritual of tea drinking is an important moment of quiet and self-centeredness in each day. I discovered knitting, which led to art, which led to a joyous, adventurous view of the world.

You can also find me at Flickr where I post many more pictures and scans. You can contact me at poppinsclassical AT hotmail DOT com. I used to blog at Poppins Classical Academy.

Sandra: My serious, stubborn, thoughtful, 10 year-old daughter. She’s been diagnosed with problems with her eyes - tracking and teaming, specifically. Her reading has really suffered because of it. We’re addressing it through therapy and exercises now that we know about it. Expect a lot of posts about reading until I no longer fret about it. She loves rules and predictability. She doesn’t like change. Conversations with her are deep and thought-provoking. She loves the Lord of the Rings movies like Peter Jackson loves them: inside out and in detail.

Matthias: (pronounced Ma- TEE- as) My wiggly, intense, ultra-physical 8 year-old boy. I did a happy dance the day he began whining because it meant that he had an option other than physically expressing his emotions (ie, hitting). He’s got the best smile I’ve ever seen. It’s like the sun. He’s playful, cheerful, and stronger than any child has a right to be. I homeschool him in short bursts of quality…because what other choice to I have? Short bursts of crap?

Rainer: (pronounced Rye-ner) My marathon-running, ultra fab, German husband. We met and fell in love when I was 13. He’s a medievalist, an academic librarian and a feminist. The best parts of my day involve making him laugh. He’s a triathlete and a reader of literature.