Hi! I’m Joy!
Christian wife and mom, author, illustrator, publisher, and home-based business owner
Besides designing curriculum and homeschooling in a log house or a four-season yurt, I love to garden, sew, bake, enjoy the beauty of nature, and oh, oodles of other fun things in my life such as touching a baby camel, canning peaches, and living in a few log homes over the years! Rob and I have been happily married since 1998! ♥
To see our Style of Learning/Educational Approach, please go to “Our Twist”. More about Rob and our children is on “About Our Family” page and more about our Christian beliefs and background is on the “About Our Faith” page.
Why is it called “Peppermint Stick”?
We began Peppermint Stick Learning Company Inc. together back in 2007, fashioning the business name from my camp nickname, “Peppy”, and fitting it with the main emphasis of why I was passionate about creating unique curriculum or telling others about “gold nugget” resources that we discovered along our journey of raising our children… lessons that truly stick for the long-term, are refreshing for a busy mom like me to use, and have a sweet simplicity and practicality to them! Our approach could be considered a type of minimalist homeschooling style.
School… Although, I was/am a “square peg in a round hole”, I loved both being homeschooled in kindergarten and thrived in 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 U. of Western Ontario and U. of Waterloo for a Bachelor of Science degree, followed by a handful of college courses.
Work and Family…. I have been a student worker in a physiotherapy department, a concert pianist (solo, duet, group), children’s ministry leader, tutor, ventriloquist, Sunday School teacher, seminar presenter, and now a homeschool mom for our eight children, ranging in stage from “littles” to post-secondary graduate!
Challenges… An example of my “rare struggles” would be having multi-chemical sensitivities for many years and in more recent years also discovering that I have EMF (electromagnetic frequency) sensitivity. This means that while my computer area at home is relatively “safe” for me to return to do some work on it (no more “wireless” here, etc.), my time spent with computer work is prioritized as to what is most important to use it for. Some changes have been now made within our business to make things easier for me to continue to work in this calling I have been given of writing. I am grateful for the blessing to remain an online voice for homeschooling success in Canada.
“Encouragemints”…
Over the years, it seems that my life has been (and still is) quite a mixture of rare as well as common struggles and some extra-special opportunities. You will get to find out about some of these experiences if you read my blog posts. But more than just sharing about my life, I hope that what is written for the “Encouragemints” section will make you THINK, and think deeply about this life, and eternity ahead.
I hope that you are delighted as you go through our website, finding helpful tips and more, to inspire you to live in wisdom and joyfulness!
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Joy’s Newsletter!
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Especially for homeschooling moms, Joy sends out occasional (e.g. monthly) newsletters with “little extras” of encouragement and sale notices to those who sign up here! We trust that these will be a blessing to your heart! 🌷🌼🌺