"Just do it." Sometimes an overused phrase, when properly applied, "just do it" fits our homeschooling style. When my mom Peggy first started to teach us four young children at home, she made sure we got all the basics and other foundational knowledge down pat, with an emphasis on applying basic skills to learning new teaching. Later she would try to find a topic that each child liked individually, and then build the rest of the subjects around that interest. You want to be a pilot? You will have to know your math in case you need to do some calculations, and who trusts a pilot with horrid grammar? Using puzzles, games, and inquiry about the world, even over lunch, she expanded horizons and encouraged logical thinking. Mom used this point of view through the rest of our school years, straight through college when professors got to deal with the Doney kids' never-ending curiosity and questions.

When I wanted to learn about American Indians, my mom began to understand that interest-led learning encompasses far more than the subject at hand. After several months, she was ready to move on, but I was digging into the topic. When I came back the next year wanting to continue the same study, she encouraged me to go for it. There is always more to learn, so why not just do it?

All four of us Doney kids are in college or have graduated. We are each pursuing things that interest us. Shannon, the oldest, has earned a Master's Degree in Human Nutrition and Research, teaches college classes, does nutritional consulting work, and is married. Nathaniel is also married, serves in the National Guard, and is studying surveying and civil engineering. Jonathan has been taking core college classes, working three part time jobs, and been rebuilding his truck and its engine while he waits to go to the Police Academy. And I play the harp, take college classes, and aspire to be a writer. Each one of us is involved in our churches and seeks ways to serve God and others.

As homeschool "retirement" approached, the love of learning that Mom worked to give us kids led her to pursue classes for herself on spinning wool into yarn. While the kids took classes at college, she took classes in an interest area. There is always more to learn; just do it. Mom took her new-found love of spinning and expanded it to include the cleaning, dyeing, and knitting or weaving of wool. As I graduated from high school, we simultaneously entered a new stage in life. Going to college and continuing one's education is common, but what is to be done after the last child takes that step? Mom decided to go for a new "old" job, the job of learning. Nor did she stop teaching. In addition to tutoring math, she was able to start sharing her passion for fiber arts.

When a "student" shows an interest, they receive hands-on tutorials in dyeing wool with Kool-Aid in a microwave. One mother mentioned that her daughter wanted to learn how to spin. My mom happily pulled her young friend over and taught her to use the drop spindle and then the spinning wheel. There's always more to learn, why not just do it together?

While trying new things can be intimidating, we have always been able to get past that fear, knowing that the end result will be exciting and interesting. Signing up for classes and experimenting constantly at home with the spinning wheel and her dye pot, my mom takes her joy from doing what she has always encouraged her children to do: keep learning! There is so much that is new, that is enjoyable, worth passing on. So what if it is scary or weird, try something new, there's more to learn! Just do it!

A note from Nancy Baetz: I met Peggy and her husband Jeff several years ago through the Colorado Springs Homeschool support Group, of which Jeff is the president. In their many years of service to homeschoolers, the Doneys have at times fielded 50 calls in a day from parents inquiring about homeschooling. Peggy has been an inspiring friend and mentor to me. The "young friend" Hannah mentioned whom Peggy taught to spin and dye yarn is my own daughter, Mary Rose.