Hi! I’m Joy!
Christian wife and mom, author, illustrator
Besides designing curriculum and homeschooling our kids, I love to garden, sew, quilt, bake, can peaches, play musical instruments, enjoy the beauty of nature, and oh, oodles of other fun things!
To see our Style of Learning/Educational Approach, please go to “Our Twist”. More about our Christian beliefs and background is under the menu tab entitled “Faith”. Continue reading below for more background about myself (the main author) and why my husband and I started Peppermint Stick Learning Company Inc..
I hope that you are delighted as you go through our website, finding helpful tips, things to THINK deeper about, and encouragement to live in wisdom and joyfulness!
Joy
Why is it called “Peppermint Stick”?
Our family began Peppermint Stick Learning Company Inc. back in 2007, fashioning the business name from my camp nickname, “Peppy”, and fitting it with our main emphasis for this website – to offer educational resources which have a sweet simplicity and/or practicality (i.e. good and useful, not trivial, not boring, not tedious) … “lessons that stick with a refreshing touch of sweetness!”
School… I was/am a “square peg in a round hole” and known as a “gifted” character! I loved both being homeschooled in kindergarten and my public education school years, helping teachers or the librarian, doing independent projects, and fast-tracking through high school. For my post-secondary education, I attended two universities to complete a Bachelor of Science degree and then a diploma at a private business school. I also took a few correspondence courses from a Bible Institute. (More about my education background is at this link.) I continue to study various areas of personal interest through listening to or watching lecture series, reading research articles, or checking reference materials.
I still like reading funnies and simple children’s books too, even at my age! On purpose, I aim to use an informal tone in my writings most of the time here, rather than a precise, academic-style of language usage. I would rather be readily understood by a general bunch of people (including kids, for example, I design curriculum at their level) than to publish structurally-perfect pieces for the discriminating eye!
Work and Family…. Though I’ve worked in the area of business and designing curriculum for a number of years, I also have been a children’s ministry leader, student worker in a physiotherapy department, concert pianist (solo, duet, group), tutor to a delayed learner, and a ventriloquist.
After living most of our years in Ontario, Rob and I moved our family to Nova Scotia a few years ago, for health reasons. I still sometimes come alongside or teach other women, more so within Christian groups. In the past, I spoke at homeschool conventions. I no longer travel to homeschool conferences and my writing projects are worked on much more slowly in recent years. I do what I can with business, when I feel that is what I’m to be doing. But of course, I also have home and outside priorities beyond “Peppermint Stick” – I’m still a busy mom with lots of fun things to do! 🙂
How can someone homeschool a large family, develop curriculum and online things, live with limitations, etc.? What I accomplish is done prayerfully with dependence on the strength and abilities that God has given me. I too, have some days where things don’t go as planned. (See one of my first blog posts here.) However, our overall homeschool life doesn’t resemble the amount of frustrations that I hear about from many others. I think this could be partly due to “how” we approach learning.
To read more about our family, please go here.
Our Other Website… “The Word In Our Hearts” (click here for our ministry website) Our perspective in life comes from a love for God and His Word to reach out to people!
“Encouragemints”…
Tips for teaching various subjects, parenting and faith, organizing tips, plus writing about something else a little bit different...
I live with some environmental sensitivities (e.g. to wireless devices, some electricity, etc.). The wireless/electrical sensitivities are a result of multiple overexposures to such in my life. The technology we use now is wired (not wireless) and we have chosen to live in a low-rf place. The EMF MCS section of my blog is there to educate families and individuals about some technologies, practical natural-living choices, and to provide a Christian perspective of truth and hope.
Science, Reading, Writing, Math, Geography, History, Socials, Arts, French, Practical Skills…
One of the comments we’ve heard about our product-line is that it is often unique!
Years ago, I chose to develop a “Peppermint Stick” style for homeschooling our own kids as a relaxed, sensible approach that fits a home atmosphere. And after 18+ years of homeschooling, we still use this same approach as well as many of the products we recommend in our shop and/or lists.
We simply offer to others what we have appreciated and found to be very effective and refreshing for the whole family!
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Joy’s Newsletter!
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Especially for homeschooling moms, Joy sends out occasional newsletters to those who sign up here! Sometimes it’s just a sale announcement and other times, it’s teaching tips or highlighting helpful resources or posts simply to be a blessing to you!
