There is such joy and delight in parenting and homeschooling. Then, there are days that just knock the wind right out of us.
And in those moments, there is a place — a space — to regroup, to refresh, to restart.
My hope is that this is one of those places for you, my friend. An oasis in the midst of your desert, a harbor in your chaos, where you can find your bearings. Whether you are looking for some general homeschool help, specific tips for homeschooling learning challenges like ADHD or Dyslexia, or Christian truth to encourage your heart and remind you of Whose you are and what you are about,
there’s grace here for you.
Hello, my friend! I’m Tracy, and I’m so thankful to have you here for a few moments, reading my words. I love helping others, cultivating deep relationships, and equipping women to treasure Christ and love their families well. I’ve been married to my husband for 18 years, serving in ministry together from coast to coast, and I have three vivacious kids. My oldest is a senior this year, followed by my daughter who is also in high school, and then my youngest who is in 6th grade.
As a homeschooled homeschooler, I’ve spent nearly my whole life in the world of homeschooling. We’ve been homeschooling our own kids since the beginning, which means we’ve been at this for 12 years now! It’s a journey I love, and wouldn’t trade for anything.
Yet it has been far from easy, as we tackle the normal challenges of learning together and the added challenges of ADHD and dyslexia (and all that comes with that). But through it all, we’ve trusted God’s sustaining grace and seen Him do wondrous things. It’s been a journey, with all the trouble and rough patches that come with a journey, as well as all the scenic views and fond memories.
With over 15 years of experience writing and editing for curriculum publishers, churches, and charter schools, as well as reviewing homeschool curriculum, I love all things related to learning. There’s nothing like a curriculum fair or even a bookcase full of books to make my heart beat faster. Taking what’s best about an existing curriculum and making adjustments to fit the particular needs of a child is a hobby, a passion, and a delight.
I equally love sharing that gift with others, helping them find solutions for the homeschool challenges they face, and directing them to the best curriculum options to serve their families.
That love for all things learning, paired with our passion to equip families to grow in Christ together, has also led us as a family to many wonderful resources for discipleship and spiritual growth. All these things and more are what I hope to be able to share with you and encourage you with in this space.
Parenting, discipling, homeschooling, and doing life with my kids is a joy. I love helping them to face their challenges—academically, spiritually, emotionally, etc. But sometimes, facing those challenges with my kids can leave me feeling overwhelmed and not enough. And, if I’m honest, sometimes those challenges have brought me to my wit’s end. Discipling, parenting, and homeschooling our kids is a sanctifying process; it sanctifies and grows us as the Lord parents us in those hard mom moments.
I’ve learned that He is always enough, and I am enough in Him.
I’ve learned through the years the importance of rest, of community, of having the right tools and the right people around me.
I’ve learned that hope and delight and abundant life don’t come from an absence of hardships, but from the presence of Christ.
Growing in Grace is a space to replenish those empty reserves, to find support and encouragement, to know you are not alone in this. It’s a place to grow and learn, to find practical tools and tips to help as you serve your family well —a place of grace and knowledge for your heart and your homeschool challenges.
My desire here at Growing in Grace is to encourage you to find joy and hope as you treasure Christ and to equip you to walk through the choices & challenges of discipling and homeschooling your children. My hope is to inspire you with spiritual grace and truth, as well as solutions and creative ideas for your out-of-the-box learner. I’m honored to have you join me.
Let’s grow in grace and knowledge together!
Ten More Things about me…
- I was raised in a Christian home and came to know the Lord at the age of four. Of course, I didn’t understand a lot, but I understood I could not be as perfect as I wanted to be. And I understood that Christ had died for me to give me forgiveness and His perfection. Over the years, I have grown in the wonder and delight of knowing Christ and being known by Him. If you’re curious about what that means, I’d love to share more about it with you.
- I am an information-loving nerd. I love reading, researching on the internet, and finding answers to all the things I’m curious about (which is a lot of things).
- I love planning and systems and organization. I love file folders, notebooks, planners, pens, and bookcases. And I love finding the solution to organizational problems, scheduling, and lesson planning. But housecleaning—that’s something else entirely.
- I love teaching—and curriculum. I’ve taught college English and writing classes, written/edited educational and church curriculum, reviewed curriculum, and currently work from home as an independent writer and editor for both church and educational curriculum.
- I drink my coffee black and strong, in the morning. But in the evening, I love a cup of hot chai tea with cream.
- I have Hashimoto hypothyroidism, so yes, I understand what it’s like to parent and homeschool high-energy kids while battling a chronic illness. I tease that if my kids’ brains are race cars, then I am the semi-truck just trying to get into gear.
- My #1 enemy to meal prep is forgetting to defrost what’s for dinner. I have to have a Plan B, and sometimes a Plan C.
- While I’m not very funny, I love to laugh! One of the blessings of having an ADHD family is that I am surrounded by lots of humor and wit to keep me chuckling.
- I am a voracious reader. I devour books, and I can’t pick favorites. I can only tell you my latest favorite, or my favorites for a particular topic. There are just too many good ones to choose! (Oh, all right, here’s a few: Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander by Leif Enger; Tale of Two Cities by Dickens; Superparenting ADD by Dr. Ned Hallowell; You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy; Convivial Homeschool by Misty Winkler; Adore by Sara Hagerty; Future Grace by John Piper; Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges…okay, I’ll stop now.)
- I love helping my pastor-husband. We met, got engaged, and were married all within six months and have been loving each other and loving the Lord together now for 18 years. There has been nothing better than sharing God’s grace alongside my husband and with my kids—mentoring, counseling, encouraging, and serving—both in our church and in our community. It’s a blessed life.
Now, friend, tell me about you!
Nice to meet you! Loved reading the things about you. We have a lot in common. I LOVE the fact that you were homeschooled and are homeschooling. One of my best friends was HSed and is now HSing her 3 boys. 🙂 I pulled my 11 year old daughter out the first week of second grade and we haven’t looked back!
I will definitely be back. I found you on the ModSquad connect.
Nice to meet you, too. And I am so glad that you are enjoying homeschooling. It is such a privilege to have that opportunity.
I loved reading this! I also read the end of stories first, or I fly through them just to see what happens at the end. 🙂
Hi Tracy! Your kids are adorable!
I am looking forward to reading all your posts. You have some great ideas here I could use in my own homeschooling journey. Thanks!
Hi Tracy,
Glad to read about your homeschooling adventures and see the photos on your blog! I’m on the other end of the journey– with 9 children we homeschooled, am teaching my youngest now, and he is 12.
This was fun to read!! It was actually weird, too, because we have about 7 in common! Good luck on that sugar addiction–I need to be inspired. 🙂
We sound so similar 🙂 it is so WONDERFUL to meet other God-loving mommies who homeschool as well! 🙂 … And How amazing that you were homeschooled and now you get to give that gift to your own children! Looking forward to reading more through your blog! 🙂 Found ya through MHJ 🙂 hugs from http://littleadventures-als.blogspot.com
So glad to meet you too!
It was fun to read about you!
I hear you about the sugar. I am a big tea drinker in the fall and winter. I would pick up a few pounds in the fall- since I, too, poured the sugar in! Now I use Truvia. Thank God!
Blessings on your homeschooling journey!
I’ve heard of Truvia. Does it leave an aftertaste like Splenda does? I can taste Splenda just about anywhere, bleck! And I, too, love a cup of hot tea in the winter—or Ghirardelli hot chocolate. Mmm.
Truvia took a little to get used to. . .but I was motivated. . .
😉
What a treat to get to know you better. I love your “15 things about me”. Might have to “steal” the idea and do a version of that on my blog sometime.
It’s nice to meet you, Tracy! Let’s see…random facts about me…
1. I totally relate to numbers 1, 2, and 14 on your list.
2. I love loose leaf hot tea…with Truvia since gestational diabetes forced me off of indulging in sugar.
3. I was a math tutor in college. I can’t wait to teach my kids calculus!
4. I reread the entire Anne of Green Gables series every other year. The third Anne movie made me so sick I was only able to watch it once.
5. I work part-time from home as an administrator for an online ministries training school (yeah, that makes scheduling homeschool interesting!).
6. I partially chose TOG based on their high school book list. I’m so excited about sharing Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Green Gables, and Les Miserables with my 3 girls! (And I have supplemental assignments stored in my head to make Les Miserables a monster unit:-)
7. My husband and I love watching old musicals together.
8. I love to read. As of late, I have had to be very selective and cautious reading non-fiction (which I love) because I criticize mySELF too much, and non-fiction inevitably points to some area of application that I need improvement in. :-O
9. I’m horrified that I ended that last sentence with a preposition but I think that “in which I need improvement” sounds pretentious:-/
10. I live in Oregon but sleep on Texas soil (via a bag of dirt from family land in my home state that that my mom brought up here to put under the bed when my girls were born! All three have been born on top of Texas soil:-) )
I love it! Great to meet you. My favorite is #10, especially since my roots are Texan, too.
absolutely stunned ! i mean how can two different people ( u & me of course ) on opposite sides of the globe be so similar ?:-/
Great to meet you, from the opposite side of the world! Where are you from?
I can clearly remember you reading Peace like a River aloud at night during college because you were so excited about it. I just bought it and read it again recently. You were so passionate about everything. I vividly remember so many talks about the Lord I had with you Tracy. You were always so real, and impacted me more than you will ever know.
Lizz, your words were so encouraging and inspiring. Thank you for that great memory and sweet comments. Those were some great times, and I loved our time together as roomies!
Nice to meet you, Tracy! Funny that you got married quick! I did too! I met my husband “briefly in October.” Saw him again in February and we “chatted.” Nothing major. He called me a few weeks later to ask me out. I told him I was only looking for a friend, that I was content being single. That was funny because we were engage one month later and married two months after our engagement. So we dated 3 months total and really only knew each other that amount of time. God sure has a sense of humor. After we got married, I found out 6 months later I was pregnant with our first child! FUN! FUN! I wouldn’t change anything! God sure has a way of working His plan!
I also saw that you are real familiar with Abeka (right?). I did post on another page as well, but now have read more. We do Classical Conversations and I am wanting to change to more of a Charlotte Mason approach. I have been looking at My Father’s World. My daughter will have completed 2nd grade by the time we would start that. What is your thoughts? I am not sure if I should stick with Abeka math or go with Singapore that MFW recommends. You may not be familiar with those, but if you are any advice you have would be great! My son will be doing K4 work. 🙂 Thank you!!
I LOVED reading about you!
Good to meet you, too! What a fun love story! Thanks for sharing. I do have a lot of experience with A Beka (was homeschooled with it, wrote and edited for A Beka Publishing, and have used it with my own kids), and I’ve heard lots about MFW and Singapore although I haven’t used either. A Beka is a great program, though it can be a lot of work if you feel you have to do it by the book. If you are willing to customize it and decide what to cut out, it can be great. I’ve also known a number of A Beka families who switched to MFW and loved it. I’ve looked into Singapore math several years in a row, but per my husband’s preference we’ve stuck with A Beka. And honestly, it’s worked very well for us this year. I’ll email you with some more thoughts. Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy, I stumbled upon your blog tonight while looking for homeschool books for next year. I am also following a CM-inspired approach. I’ll be following your blog for some insights , especially as it relates to keeping toddlers busy: I’ve got twin 14 mo. olds who are shaking things up lately!
What an exciting (and I’m sure exhausting) journey your are on! So good to hear from you again. Yes, keeping the toddlers busy and out of trouble is a challenge. I’ll share what I’m learning along the way, but I’m far from full of answers. Please feel free to send me your ideas too! We can grow together. =)
Oh my goodness! Reading these bio bits of you, I think we are twins split at birth! LOL! Except that I got the math gene. I think we would have a lot of great times hanging out over coffee. Bless you as you help bless those of us who struggle and want to be better at the same things you are adventuring through. Have a terrific rest of the school year!
Heather, so good to meet you! I would love to grab a cup of coffee and pick your brain about math sometime. If you’re ever up my way, let’s do it!
Hi I would love to meet you in person sometime if your who I think. your kids go to karate with my son
Hi! It’s very likely. I sent you an email message (you might check your spam folder if you didn’t get it). Or, if you didn’t get it, you can email me through the contact page. Either way, let’s try to connect and meet up!