We have lived in ten states and have participated in eleven homeschooling states (when we lived in Iowa in 2000 we participated in homeschooling activities in Nebraska as well). We have been homeschool support group leaders for over ten years, and in the last seven years have been traveling the country speaking at homeschool events, including everything from state conventions to small local support groups (our favorites). We also teach CLEP Prep classes to help homeschoolers prepare for the CLEP exam to get college credit.

In case you were wondering, we haven't been as good at homeschooling our three dogs - they are pretty spoiled, ill-mannered, and not too bright! But we love them anyway! Just so you know, they are English Springer Spaniels, and their names are (from left to right) Chunky, Pudgy and Babe. Babe is the mommy - she's now thirteen. The other two are brother and sister, ten years old. They were the fruit of one of Katie's projects - an English Springer breeding business - we ended up selling two and keeping two.

In the summer of 2003, Jeremiah, Bekah, and Katie were all married. Miah and Bekah are now college graduates; Katie has completed her Associates Degree in Architecture with a 4.0 GPA. They also own and operate HELPS (Home Education Learning Products and Services - the book and product sales division of davidandlaurie.com). As we said, we have now entered the stage of life where some of our children are moving into marriage relationships -- and grandchildren! Jeremiah married Kim Keeley - who we love and are happy to have as part of the family. Their wedding date was May 31st, 2003 Kim is also a nurse, along with Rebekah and happens to be Rebekah's best friend too. Katie and Bekah are also recent brides! - Rebekah married Bob Warner on June 14th, 2003. Bob is a successful stone mason and owned a company with his dad and another partner in the Syracuse area until the summer of 2004 when they moved to Florida to be near us (they closed on their house the week after Hurricane Charley!). Katie married Shawn Romano, who is our website designer/genius, on August 19th, 2003. Both Shawn and Bob were also homeschooled! It’s been an amazing blessing to see God working in bringing the right spouses into our children’s lives. We have also recently been blessed to see our daughters being recognized for their academic achievements: Bekah was named in 2003 as one of two Juniors to the National Nursing Honor Society; Katie graduated in May, 2003 from Onondaga Community College with honors, having achieved a 4.0 GPA in 18 months. Jeremiah was a business major at Roberts Wesleyan and graduated Cum Laude. Jeremiah also graduated in December 2003 from Focus On The Family's Family Institute in Colorado Springs where he attended on a partial scholarship as well. He and Kim spent part of their "honeymoon" as counselors during The Summit At Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee in July, 2003. In 2004, he was hired as the Associate Director of the Worldview Team for Summit at Bryan College. He is traveling the country now teaching high school students in how to learn a biblical worldview.

AND NOW WE HAVE TWO BEAUTIFUL GRANDCHILDREN! Nehemiah was born to Miah and Kim in March of 2006; Eden was born to Bob and Bekah in December, 2006. And we have heard that there are more to come! The next generation of homeschooling has begun!

Josiah busied himself this past year by studying for CLEP tests and continuing his college work in Information Technology. He is in the Air National Guard, defending our air space as a part of the Northeast Air Defense System (NORAD). (This has all been accomplished by a homeschooler whom we wondered was ever going to have interest in academics at one point. We just waited patiently to see what would result. It has been worth it to not push Josiah too hard.) He proved his proficiency by scoring in the 94th percentile on the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam given for military recruits. He was told by his recruiter that it was the highest score he had ever seen in central New York. Josiah is also planning to get married soon. He also has a ministry in a praise band. A very busy guy!

Wesley is our aspiring 19-year-old singer and actor, having played major roles as of Oliver during the 2001 Syracuse Stage holiday season, Alexander in LeMoyne College's production of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day," in a travelling illiteracy awareness production called "Salt and Pepper" (in which he played the role of the boy, "Salt"), with his part as Tommy in a recent local theater production of The Music Man, and the lead role of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which was performed this past Spring, 2003 by the new Syracuse Christian School of Performing Arts. Wesley continues to develop his public speaking and presentation skills by assisting us in teaching CLEP Prep classes. He recently completed his course major courses in Musical Theater at Bryan College, where he is working on his second major in Political Communications. He hopes to finish his two-degree program next year after going to Focus On The Family Institute. When he joins us for CLEP classes, he encourages the students by showing that these college-level subjects are learnable by homeschoolers; it is clear once he presents material in biology, U.S. History, Introductory Psychology or Sociology, that this homeschooler knows his stuff. We love having him along as an instructor in these classes. The students obviously do too!

We announced in January, 2003 our intentions to pursue our homeschooling ministry full-time! This took a bit of a detour in January, 2004 when we moved to Florida to help our friends Gary and Mary Parker with their Creation Adventures Museum in Arcadia. However, things have a way of getting detoured at times. In August, 2004 we were hit by Hurricane Charley! We lost our home and many of our belongings. But we are not discouraged in the least. As we were cleaning up from this devastating event, we received word from the state of Florida that our request to start our home-based college, The Christian Institute was approved. This is arguably the first truly home-based college offering in the country.

The latest direction includes offering CLEP Prep Classes and Parents' Workshops for local homeschoolers throughout the country as we develop our new Associates of Biblical Worldview Studies in Arts and Sciences program through The Christian Institute. Classes have been given in Michigan, Virginia, New York, Indiana, Colorado, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida. Future classes are being scheduled as homeschool groups contact us with groups of 20 or more students. We are excited by this opportunity to make ourselves available to homeschoolers through this ministry. Please check out this ministry at www.thechristianinstitute.com.

Please send us a note at our e-mail address and share what your family is up to! We love to hear from other families who have set out on the homeschooling journey as we have!