
Once upon a time we had an old Commodore 64 computer which my brother-in-law had given to us for our children to use. That hand-me-down computer entertained my older children with multiple games whenever they earned computer time by doing chores or finishing schoolwork on time. Then one autumn day we made a decision to buy a new computer which would primarily be used to supplement our children’s education. The choice was easily narrowed down to the purchase of our first Mac Performa and the simplicity of using it made it a wonderful addition to our household. The most notable event was when my oldest son who was fifteen years old at the time went through the process of installing the software and hooking up our dial-up 9600 baud modem to the internet. What an adventure awaited us!
However, the challenges of homeschooling during that time plus taking care of baby number seven plus helping my parents as my mom recovered from major surgery allowed me little time to learn much about our computer or the internet. The extent of my usage was limited to occasionally checking a quiet AOL email account.
Until that following summer a mere thirteen years ago.
Finally our schooling routine disappeared as more flexible summer days stretched out in front of us. One afternoon I plopped open a Practical Homeschooling magazine which I had been reading while nursing my baby and slid my rocking chair and sleeping baby over by the computer as I searched on AOL for a message board area which Mary Pride had set up for homeschoolers. Smiling from ear to ear once I found it, I began reading through the different categories available. Any and every possible topic related to homeschooling was available. Then I landed on a category that spoke to my heart. Homeschooling a Houseful. I spent quite a few days “lurking” and getting to know the women through their posts.
During this season of life, I was so limited to being able to engage in relationships outside my home as my days were full from start to finish, but before the start and finish when the baby needed nursing and my household was sleepy, I slowly and steadily began developing friendships with a group of women who had similar life situations as I posted a comment now and then allowing them to get to know me. We all were still in our childbearing years and were often typing one handed as we nursed our babies, cared for large growing families which had their own unique dynamics, talked about the challenges of homeschooling and what curriculums worked the best, shared simple and easy recipes or laundry tips, and gave advice while we prayed for one another as sisters in Christ.

When this message board area closed on AOL, our group tried a couple other message board areas as our families continued to grow older. We stuck together as we began exchanging Christmas cards and family pictures every December, meeting one another whenever we traveled to other states, helping one another when there were needs beyond our means, graduating our homeschooling kids one by one, and laughing heartily or crying sympathetically with one another as our relationships continued to blossom. We worked our way through many controversial topics which came with it learning the “tone” of our discussions through our typed words with a heart for unity which was shown through our apologies when misunderstood.
Seven summers ago we finally landed and have stayed at a place on the internet where a private message board area was set up. Our membership is around 75 to 80 women with about half of them quite active and the others checking in now and then as we’ve busily chatting away accumulating thousands of posts. Life on the internet has also changed and many of us can be found on Facebook as individuals or within the group we set up. Life has also changed within our families as we now share about weddings, grandbabies, books, menopause, aging parents, health issues, and even the topic of homeschooling comes up once in awhile. Although there have been many changes, our friendships have continued to be an incredible blessing deepening through the years and which will continue into eternity as we’re all convinced we’ll have our own little corner in heaven someday.
Internet friendships are not meant to replace or be any kind of substitute for our real life face to face friendships with women, but they can be a wonderful supplemental way of being blessed by other women within friendships where we can share the thousands of words of thoughts on our minds within a given day. The key is finding a healthy balance of time to do this so that you are not taking away from your real life relationships and home life. Message boards are a wonderful way to connect with other women and in particular other homeschooling moms as they offer specific areas to meet similar and distinct needs. Heart of the Matter offers a forum for this purpose as well as The Homeschool Lounge. Take a moment to check them out and meet other women who are also homeschooling. You never know when you might develop a sweet friendship that may allow you to meet face to face someday in the future. Trust me, you won’t run out of words if that happens as the conversation will flow much as it does online. You will be richly blessed by a friendship with a dear sister in Christ and could anything else be closer to the heart of the matter?
Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy Dallmann’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from grade school age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.



































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