About Mike & Linda

“Who taught your kids to walk?”

When people find out we homeschool, most of them say a version of the same thing: “ugh, I could never teach my kids.” I always ask, who taught your kids to walk? To talk? To use the bathroom? That was you! You've been homeschooling your kids since they were born!

We're Mike and Linda. We've homeschooled our eight children, five girls and three boys, since our oldest was born in 2001.

It was not the plan. The summer before our oldest was old enough, Linda had the first day of kindergarten planned: drop him off, shed a few tears, coffee with the friends who'd just dropped off theirs, a workout, a quiet house, back at three. Then I mentioned how great it would be to have him in the homeschool program where I taught.

Linda was not on board at first. She had that morning planned for a reason, and coming around took her several months. She'll tell you now that she's thankful for every one of those years, and she isn't being polite about it. Neither of us will tell you it was easy. It hasn't been. It has been good.

Why we started

We decided long ago that we wanted to be involved in our children's education. We wanted to know what they were learning, and more than that, we wanted to teach them not only morals but where morals come from.

What we want for them is simpler than a curriculum. We want them to love to learn and to love to read, so that they'll read and love God's word, know who He is, and seek to glorify Him with all of their heart, mind, and strength. Everything else we do here grows out of that.

Where the workshops came from

For nineteen years I taught enrichment workshops at a K-12 homeschool charter school. Ag Animals, Ag Plants, Welding, Computers, Team Building, Science Fair, Handyman, PE. Then a mandate came that I couldn't go along with, and we parted ways.

When I separated, the workshops came with me. What I teach at Owens Farm now is built around that same list, without the district: welding in the shop, livestock and plants and chores out on the farm, sewing, team building, Charlotte Mason mornings. Same subjects, same way of teaching them.

The other half of that job was sitting with families, and it was the half that brought the most joy. Nearly every parent across that table had similar fears: that their child wouldn't get to be who they could have been, and that it would be their fault. Nineteen years of that taught me more than my credentialing did. It's part of why I keep the workshops small.

From now on

Families just starting out ask us the same thing: where do I begin? We've asked many veteran homeschool families that question since 2001, and they carried us. Now we're the ones being asked.

So bring your student. They'll get their hands on something real: a welder, a seed tray, a shovel, the animals. You keep teaching them at your own table. We'll share the part that's hard to do there. I'm here to send your student home still talking about it at dinner, and still curious about it years after they've left your table for their own.