I am a wife, mother, teacher, and a grandmother. I have been married to my husband since the early nineties and we have fourteen children. I have been blessed and honored to be their teacher for the last 25 years. I have graduated eight students and have six left to go. Penny Homeschooling came about as a Facebook page, when I was teaching multiple children in a tiny house, with very little income. My husband has always stated, “I am the richest man you will ever meet, I just don’t have a lot of money.” We lived a life being contented with what the Lord gave and learned many things in the process. During those lean days, a friend commented that I needed to share the ideas I had for teaching my crew and she joked that it was with “mere pennies”. I thought, ruminated, and prayed about how God wanted this to look. I didn’t have time to learn how to manipulate a website or start a blog with life going on.

I started a Facebook Page to show examples of how my children learn. It was not far reaching and it doesn’t have a million followers but it was a beginning. I have taught a variety of styles and tried a plethora of different kinds of curriculum. My children ranged from extremely smart to children with disabilities, in the world’s eyes these would seem to be opposites but I found that if taught in a certain way each child was extremely smart and had a God given talent for something. It was my job to prepare them and help them find it. I call it their “Loves”.

Some of them struggled with simple things like reading and math concepts; others with dyslexia, dysgraphia, hearing problems, health issues that kept them in a children’s hospital for weeks at a time, an intellectual disability which made us start over with learning many times, and feelings that would bring me to my knees to ask for wisdom. I have learned to stop and do this first since my Lord knows exactly what I need and exactly how I should teach my children. A curriculum will not guarantee learning, but God can give you insight and wisdom on how to teach your children even if you do not have a curriculum. I will try to share my passion for families and homeschooling.

Blessings, Samantha Mathis