Happy, happy spring! Hope you are all doing very well. The school year is wrapping up, and your kids are itching to get outside and play. Do it! Drop the textbooks and just go out and explore. Find some bugs and other creepy crawlies to play with. Skip outside and have fun with your munchkins, enjoying the warm sunshine. The primary makeup of a balanced education, after all, is life learning. Live it well!

So, this is probably going to be one of the shortest From Our Family To Yours to date. The issue was so packed out that by the time we received our template, we had just the bare bones here to work with. Let’s see how brief we can make this. (Hey, we can try!)

First, you must be wondering about the “stamp of approval” up top. You know, when the Beatles came to America in 1964, we Yanks made them feel very at home. Goodness, they weren’t even here for two days before we put them on TV and everything. Did we not treat those young British chaps really well? For some oddball reason, we thought TOS would get the same big, happy welcome, maybe even a tea party with the Queen in that sweet castle. But noooo, didn’t quite happen that way.

Actually, all silliness aside, we had a wonderful response—very welcoming— by many lovely Christian homeschoolers there (or here, since we are in the UK at the time of this printing). But others were not so accommodating. Even a member of Parliament was notified by our opposers that it might be a good idea if TOS was stopped from entering the country (we are considered “dangerous”). One message board writer made a comment about visas being revoked or something—this anti- TOS group was dead serious about keeping us out of the UK. So, upon learning that, our tour went underground. See page 74 of this issue to read what happened— it’s weird but somewhat interesting.

Anyway, a huge thank-you to our wonderful sponsors: No Greater Joy, Apologia, Alpha Omega, Homescholar Books, Greek ’n Stuff, and Barker Creek. These six companies sent us off with great resources and/or samples for 1,000 homeschoolers across the pond. We’ll have an update next issue, too, so you can see how the whole trip (almost three weeks) went. As we go to pre-press in the next day or so, TOS is in the air and on its way. Wonder what will happen when we get off the plane … think we’ll have any screaming and swaying fans? Man, someone here at TOS needs to learn to play guitar or something.

Okay, not much room left, so we’ll say this fast. TOS has been conducting a survey for the past couple of months about homeschooling. Already about 1,100 responses have poured in, and we wanted to share with you the mid-way results (we’ll have hard results for you next issue). So here we go, briefly: We asked what the homeschooling mothers’ highest level of education was, and the most common answer has been bachelor’s degree. The most popular answer for favorite subject to teach was history, and when asked if there were plans to homeschool all the way through high school, most said YES. Anyway, there’s more, but we’ll give you all the results next issue.

Trish, our Production Director, is gonna kill us. She’s breathing down our neck even now, and we feel a little weirded out about it. Hovering over someone while they’re trying to type is kinda controlling. It’s making the room humid, too. We’re probably over our word limit here. Why do we keep rambling then? Two more quick things:

1. Paul and our son Paulie went to Florida together on business this month (hence the cool Florida pictures taken by Paulie). They had a great time at the NSSEA education conference—we’ll include details about it in our conventions issue next year.
2. TOS just opened its new Schoolhouse Store on the website. You will see all sorts of popular curriculum choices at rock bottom prices. And the best thing of all—you don’t pay for shipping. Only pay the price on the tag (US only, please). So you get the cheap prices PLUS you pay no shipping. Come see! www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/

God bless you all. Keep us in prayer; it’s been a sorta strange year. The magazine is growing very fast and with that comes the usual business-related stresses (like people who hate your guts). We want to do everything to the glory of the Lord to the best of our ability. It’s His magazine. May we always remember that and stand up firmly for His principles laid out in God’s word—no matter how “hot” things might get. And may we be humble, as pride always comes before any fall. Pray that we, Paul and Gena, and our four children, will honor Him with our words, deeds, and actions. For without our obedience to Jesus Christ, we may as well just go away. We love Him with all our hearts. And love to all of you; see you this summer.