I had no intentions of ever homeschooling. I knew some homeschoolers, and they were “weird.” However, halfway through my eldest daughter’s first-grade year, she began complaining about “being bored.” She would often make comments like “The teacher told us 2+2=4. That’s common sense. Why does she have to tell us a second time?” After talking to her teacher and the principal at her school and hearing their suggestion to skip my daughter 2 grades, we began to look at other options. After much prayer, my husband and I decided to give homeschooling a shot – for one year.
My name is Ann Hazelwood. I am wife to Richard for 29 years; mother to 4 wonderful children – Elizabeth, Rebecca, Sarah and Rick, and grandmother to 9-month-old James. 2019 begins my 20th year as a homeschool teacher.
Before I began life as a SAHM and Homeschooling mom, I received a bachelor of science in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. I worked as an engineer for over 10 years before coming home to stay with my children.
I can promise you that although this is the most difficult job I have ever had, it is definitely the most rewarding.
My passion is to help all homeschoolers feel confident that they can do this whether they are just considering it, have made the decision to start or have been homeschooling for a while. I love helping parents understand what homeschooling is all about from navigating the curriculum maze to figuring out transcript confusion and successfully guiding their children to becoming educated adults who contribute to society.
Dear Ann, if I didn't meet you when I first started homeschooling I don't know if I would have made it through, you have been an amazing mentor and a great friend, and our sons became the best of friends for many years and still remain friends, as do we today! I am even more blessed by the memories and the fact that I was able to help along with you for many years, being a part in starting the CHOICE homeschool group and ETC (Enrichment through CHOICE) the best place to be, as we homeschooled! Support was so important for us all, churches gave us homes to teach co-op, We met so many friends and had so many gatherings!…
You are one of the first people who reached out to me with no expectations and just listened. What an amazing friend you have become over the last 5 years. I am so thankful that God gave you the courage to homeschool and the courage to help others. I miss you terribly at CoOp but I know that this next season in life for you is going to be wonderful to watch. Thank you for starting this blog. I look forward to seeing many stories here!