Do you remember how you started on these boards?

[bluemongoose]

I started lurking when DD was a preschooler. I had realized she was not going to fit in PS and I was trying to figure this homeschooling idea out. I never left. DD is now a Sophomore in High School.

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

Yes! I was researching curriculum options for my then pre-schooler, and you all had such helpful reviews!!!

It was the reviews for me as well. Every google search led here eventually. I joined in 2013, but I lurked for quite a while. I think I started coming here the winter before we started homeschooling. 

[Not_a_Number]

11 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

Oh yes! This was the big, bad forum (as told by Secular Homeschoolers) and so I couldn't resist a peek. Got yelled at on the Tiger Mom thread, retreated, came back when SH got very, very slow. 

What was the Tiger Mom thread? 😄 

[LucyStoner]

I was on a board for parents of young kids (Baby Bargains) and we started homeschooling our older son when he was in the second grade.  One of the moms from there recommended Well Trained Mind Forum.  

Edited April 23, 2021 by LucyStoner

[teachermom2834]

I have been here since maybe 2000. I can’t even remember how I got here. Maybe from Babycenter boards? I really can’t remember how or when I found it but I have been here consistently ever since. Twenty years! I remember discussing my miscarriage here and that was 15 years ago and I know I had been around awhile then. I lurked for years before I finally posted. 
 

 

[vonfirmath]

8 minutes ago, LucyStoner said:

I was on a board for parents of young kids (Baby Bargains) and we started homeschooling our older son when he was in the second grade.  One of the moms from there recommended Well Trained Mind Forum.  

I was on Baby Bargains too!

 

[Halftime Hope]

Here's one of the very first boards archived.  It's the one where the Board flipped over to 2000, and the year reads as 19100.  

There's at least one before this, but it is missing most of the posts.  

https://web.archive.org/web/20010606014013/http://welltrainedmind.com/wtmboard/

I joined because I had a kiddo with learning disabilities that had finally come into his own after a second phonics program, and I knew we needed to step it up several notches, but I just wasn't into the "page turning" of curriculum. I wanted real books. 

[LucyStoner]

5 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

I was on Baby Bargains too!

 

I think a few of us were.  The poster who brought me here went by momoflaw here but I am not sure if that was her user name on Baby Bargains.  I was kijip on Baby Bargains and when I first came here but not too long after I started here I changed my name here to LucyStoner after the feminist pictured in my avatar.  I think I stopped actively posting on Baby Bargains in 2012 or thereabouts.  It's been a minute.  It was a significant community for me from 2004-2012.  

[Terabith]

@sbgrace and I were on the mothering forums together when our kids were babies.  

[fraidycat]

I think I ended up here researching (probably math) curricula. I just clicked on my profile to see that I joined December of 2011. I started de-schooling in January 2012 and homeschooling either late February or early March once we got settled and did the tourist thing - we moved to San Diego Jan. 2012 and went to Disneyland for my son's 6th birthday.

[*Jessica*]

I read the book sometime around 2002.  My aunt had a copy, my cousin was homeschooling her kids, and they thought it was something I might like.  I didn’t have kids yet.  😆  So when I got pregnant in 2003 I started lurking and learning.  I don’t know when I first posted, but it was long before my oldest child was preschool age.  She’s 17 now. 

[Scarlett]

Pretty sure it was somewhere around 2003 and 2004.I found the boards after I read TWTM.

[klmama]

I read TWTM book in 2000 and started homeschooling our oldest in 2002.  I discovered the discussion boards in 2003 or 2004 and have been here ever since.  

[Kareni]

I'm another who has been here a long time. I was here pre-Y2K, so over twenty years.

Thank you, @Susan Wise Bauer, for providing these boards which have been a big part of my life.

Regards,

Kareni

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Seasider too said:

Circa 2011, I believe. 

I'm curious what it was about, as opposed to when it was, I admit 😄 . 

[SoCal_Bear]

Apparently in 2014...but I know I lurked for YEARS before that.

[Tap]

I would guess about 2005 maybe? I started homeschooling when ds was about 10yo and he is 27 now. I came her from Vegsource when reasearching a phonics curriculum. I had 2 different names early on. My first choice ended up being too similar to someone else. They were a long term poster, but weren't posting often when I started (so I didn't realize they had a similar name). They were miffed when the came back and even though the names were different, it was too similar for them. I had no stake in the name, so I changed to another name. Right before my name change, they had chased off a troll and for some reason people decided I was that troll with a new name (I think it was just the timing of the name change). So, I came up with a new name and it stuck. LOL 

[Halftime Hope]

Susan's dd will be 21 this year.  (I've been down a rabbit trail looking at old boards this evening!)

@Kareni and @Seasider too

We've all had some great years together! 

 

[Halftime Hope]

2 minutes ago, Tap said:

I would guess about 2005 maybe? I started homeschooling when ds was about 10yo and he is 27 now. I came her from Vegsource when reasearching a phonics curriculum. I had 2 different names early on. My first choice ended up being too similar to someone else. They were a long term poster, but weren't posting often when I started (so I didn't realize they had a similar name). They were miffed when the came back and even though the names were different, it was too similar for them. I had no stake in the name, so I changed to another name. Right before my name change, they had chased off a troll and for some reason people decided I was that troll with a new name (I think it was just the timing of the name change). So, I came up with a new name and it stuck. LOL 

I might remember that!  Speaking of trolls...anyone remember the lady with multiple kids and bedrooms?  

[Amira]

I found the boards in the summer of 2003 when I was recovering from what would turn out to be my last miscarriage.  I’d visited my mom in another state a couple of months earlier and she randomly had a catalogue from a homeschooling bookstore and I decided to homeschool my boys because it sounded like something that would work for our family.  I found TWTM and these boards and never looked back.  My username was my real first name plus my then-current state, but I switched to Amira pretty quickly which turned out to be smart since we’ve moved to a new state or country 12 times since then. We homeschooled in some pretty isolated places, sometimes out of what we could carry in suitcases, but I always managed to find a way to stay connected to the boards because this was my only homeschool support.  Oldest ds is graduating from university this year in mechanical engineering and my middle ds is putting himself through university on Nahuatl grants.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Amira

[Melissa Louise]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

What was the Tiger Mom thread? 😄 

Thread about the Amy Chua book. 

[SeaConquest]

I joined in 2013, when I was pregnant with my younger DS and we were moving to Mexico. I wanted advice on how to afterschool my older DS. That eventually led to us homeschooling him. I wouldn't have been able to do it without this board, so I am very grateful.

When I was pregnant with my oldest, I was on a board called Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which started off great, and I still have lots of friends from that board. Unfortunately, that board spun off into a bunch of really nasty drama (truly vile stuff -- people actually stalked my family, even hacked our computer when we were living on our sailboat, it got seriously nuts), which is why I took a break from forums like this for awhile. But, this board has been lovely.

Edited April 23, 2021 by SeaConquest

[LucyStoner]

Not long after I joined this board there was a ridiculous troll thread where the OP expressed her utter rage that she'd been served something at a restaurant in the wrong order.  Except what she thought was the wrong order was what every other poster would generally regard as the right order.  She spoke of this with the rage a toddler might have over being denied cookies for breakfast.  I can't remember what it was that was so wrong abut the order of the food service now.  Maybe something about the timing of the soup and salad.  That thread stuck in my head for some reason.  

[sweet2ndchance]

I've been around here since the board flips. I read TWTM in the early 2000s when my now grown children were toddlers and preschoolers. I found the boards not long after I read TWTM. I knew I wanted to homeschool from the time my oldest was an infant. They ended up doing a mix of homeschooling for elementary/middle school and public schooling for jr high/high school. I left the boards in 2011 because we were no longer homeschooling. I came back in 2017-ish when we decided to homeschool our youngest son (currently 8yo). I cannot for the life of me remember what my original board name was, so when I came back I just picked a new board name.

I remember when these boards used to be so busy that you could spend way too long just trying to "catch up" with the day's threads only to find out, there was now an entire new page of threads to get caught up on again lol.

[BakersDozen]

I was new to home schooling so it must have been 2001 and the original boards. I had bought the book and found the site. Been on/off again at least 4 times, I think? Used to spend a lot more time on the Education forums but now lurk here mostly.

[Carrie12345]

I don’t specifically remember how I got here. I know I lurked before I joined in 8/08. Or maybe I even had a different account before that. Dd had done cyber kindergarten the previous year.  I had been researching way before that and trying to convince ds’s bio dad to agree to homeschooling. My motivation was the enormous discrepancy between his academic and social skills (ASD.). All of that research convinced me that all of my kids would be best served by homeschooling.  The kid I set out to do this for wound up home for just 4 years, (starting in ‘09) while the rest are lifers, lol.

I believe I went to ENOCH in either the summer of 06 or 07, which may have been where I was introduced to TWTM book, and probably got here from there, but it’s still fuzzy.

[Melissa in Australia]

I have been a member since 2008

 that is a LONG time

[Hannah]

I joined the old boards in about 2003 - before we started homeschooling.   I even managed to be the first on the board flip once or twice!  A major achievement at the time LOL! My oldest daughter was homeschooled all the way and is 21 now and in her third year at university.

I was always more of a lurker than an active participant, but have been reading a few times a week for all these years!  

ETA: We would not have successfully homeschooled without the WTM and these boards.  There was so little information available in South Africa 15+ years ago and I new one other homeschooler in our area.  All of the insight and information and confidence that it was possible came from these boards.  Thank you!!

Edited April 23, 2021 by Hannah

[Wheres Toto]

7 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

What was the Tiger Mom thread? 😄 

Just one of many classic threads.   The tea brewing thread was hilarious.  

I was on some parenting boards before I came here and belonged to a small sub-forum on homeschooling.  I also belonged to Secular Homeschool, read the forums on Homeschool Reviews (if SH didn't like WTM, they must have HATED Homeschool Reviews, but I don't remember a lot of dissing WTM on SH), and lurked here for a little bit before joining.    I think I'm technically still a member of SH but I don't even check in unless these boards are down for a while and I'm desperate.   It's very slow moving there.  

[Katy]

I believe I googled something, commented on a really old thread, and got called a troll!

[QueenCat]

2008, shortly after the switchover. A friend of mine told me about it. I know I had another user name, but I don't remember what it was. It still had "Cat" in it. Some of you have brought up interesting reminders of the past: cupcakes, tea brewing, among others. 

[teachermom2834]

I have been accused of being a troll a time or two. I guess in a couple of decades it was bound to happen 😂

[medawyn]

My profile tells me I joined in April 2011 (Happy 10 year to me, apparently), but I know I was reading the boards as early as 2004/2005.  I was teaching at a small classical school then, and about 1/3 of our families either came from or left to homeschool, so I wanted to be more on top of recommendations I could give them.  I was very single then, but I knew I would homeschool in the future.

I joined to buy Wheelocks Latin, because my copy had been damaged.  I hadn’t joined before because I didn’t feel like I had anything to contribute, being childless.  I’ve definitely learned so much from this board and my homeschool has been shaped by many women here, including some who have moved on.  I’m always grateful for the people who share wisdom and support on these boards.

My kids are still quite young, so I imagine I’ll be hanging around quite a bit longer.

[TheReader]

I was mainly hanging out over on the Sonlight forums, back in the day, and was in Brazil, and someone here asked about hs'ing in Brazil. A friend who was on both boards (here and SL) messaged me over there, and sent me over here to answer the questions. Slowly but surely I started spending time in both places, then more time here than there, and then just here. 

 

[Not_a_Number]

9 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

Thread about the Amy Chua book. 

I’ve been meaning to read it, lol! Were people broadly against? 

[Indigo Blue]

I read here for a long, long time. I actually didn’t join until much later, when ds was graduating or at least about to graduate. I can’t remember now. It was a rough start for me here at first. I was in a difficult time and was struggling with a lot of things. I still am, but things are much better in a lot of ways. I recently deleted my account (but same user name) so I could “start over” on so many levels. 
 

This board has been one of the instruments  that I used to  get to where I am. I’ve learned so very much about how to be (mentally) healthy and what it looks like when things aren’t as they should be. Just reading thousands of posts has given me lots of insight on so many things. 

There really isn’t another board like this out there. I hope it stays this way. FB is definitely not for me, lol. 

[elegantlion]

I've been here since 2008. I'd been homeschooling for a few years and found this board a few months before I joined. I think it was January 2008 when the new format came online. I still feel like a newbie sometimes, even though my son is graduating college next month. 

 

[Zoo Keeper]

11 hours ago, Halftime Hope said:

Here's one of the very first boards archived.  It's the one where the Board flipped over to 2000, and the year reads as 19100.  

There's at least one before this, but it is missing most of the posts.  

https://web.archive.org/web/20010606014013/http://welltrainedmind.com/wtmboard/

I joined because I had a kiddo with learning disabilities that had finally come into his own after a second phonics program, and I knew we needed to step it up several notches, but I just wasn't into the "page turning" of curriculum. I wanted real books. 

I remember when the boards looked like that!  I looked, but didn't join yet.  I was on dial up, and had very, very, very,  s   l    o    w   internet.  Very.

I finally joined and posted sometime around 2008.  Still had very slow dial up.  Reading the boards was my guilty pleasure during the baby's naptime. 

Fast forward many years, and I have graduated one son, and about to graduate another.  Only four more kids to go.  😉  And nobody naps anymore.

[Beth S]

The newly published 1st edition WTM book arrived at our doorstep as a (unusual) surprise, thanks to my dh.

DD was in 3rd grade (1999?), and it spring-boarded my Unit Study approach so well.
We now had a structure for our History & Science sequence.

Yes, the Old Boards (2000?), flipping, without all the bells and whistles we have now.
I loved Susan's posts, financial sacrifice to host the Boards, & knowing she had kids roughly my kids' ages.

DD's now 30yo, and HER daughter just finished "100 EZ Lessons".
Our youngest is finishing his freshman year in college.

[Lecka]

I joined in 2010 or 2011, google searches for reading help led me here 🙂

[catz]

I started lurking in 2006 when my oldest was in K/1st and just not having a great B&M school experience.  He hit the ceiling of their GT screener at the end of kindergarten and a lot of things started to make sense.  That kid is now a sophomore in college and homeschooled throughout.  My 2nd is a high school sophomore.  She actually has a summer birthday so she is on the edge of grade cut offs (common with summer b-day kids in these parts).  We can do 2 full years of dual enrollment for free so she is starting that in the fall and that gives us more time to look at colleges for real without the duress of lock down.  I had such a great time working on that with our oldest and we travelled about and had so much fun.  I'm looking forward to at least one long road trip with her next spring (crossing all digits).  Our dual enrollment programs here are great and high quality.  And was a great transition for my oldest to a rigorous large university program.  

I have changed my user name couple times (though not in years at this point) just  because I like online anonymity and never with malicious intent.  I've been on again off again, on more during the pandemic.  

[WildflowerMom]

I've been here since around 2009, but didn't post much until the other forum I was part of went into the toilet.   

[sassenach]

I've been here since '07, the year I started homeschooling my eldest. It was the old, old board then. The one that would flip every day. 

ETA: Actually, I started hsing her in '06 but I don't think I found the board till halfway through that school year.

Edited April 23, 2021 by sassenach

[Corbster98]

Registered early 2012. Mostly just been a lurker regularly all of these years with very occasional postings. 

I was a prior social worker that was feeling the tug to not only stay home with my boys but homeschool as well. I resigned to stay home but kind of brushed off the homeschool idea for 2 years until spring of 2009 when my 3rd grader came home with a book from his male teacher with an inappropriate picture tucked in. Long story short, I was beyond mortified...an emergency meeting was called at the school and an internal investigation revealed disturbing info on the teachers hardrive at school in addition to the photo. He was held accountable and is no longer permitted to teach.  I pulled son from school and never looked back. 

So with no time to research I jumped into homeschooling a bit overwhelmed. I eventually stumbled onto this forum while researching curriculum and options. 

[Susan Wise Bauer]

Aww, you guys, I'm so enjoying reading this thread. Thank you.

These boards were as much of a help to me as we were to you. Now that my kids are 29, 27, 24, and 20, I'm happily retired from boots-on-the-ground home schooling (hey, we get to be FINISHED at some point, people), so I have a whole different perspective now.

Nothing stays the same, as the sages point out. And change always brings some decay. But there's also ALWAYS  good in the newest phase as well...whether it's the newest phase of the boards, or the newest phase of your life as a family.

swb

[Amy in NH]

I started lurking and then participating sometime in 2000, when I lived in Florida.

[hippymamato3]

Yes, but I can't remember the name I used back then. It was 2012, DD was 3, and we had just decided to homeschool her and I was buying ALL.THE.THINGS. I've learned a lot here in general, not just about homeschooling. Now DD is 12, and in a charter school. I miss homeschool. 

Edited April 23, 2021 by hippymamato3

[Matryoshka]

I found my way here from a flash-in-the-pan spin-off board of this one for secular homeschoolers dubbed The Denim Jumper.  Not sure how I'd found that - probably somebody mentioned it on one of the other hsing boards I was on back then - Vegsource (I remember Ellie and Jann in TX from there!) and another one I don't even remember the name of.  

Anyway... people at the DJ kept referring to 'that other board' and I literally had no idea what they were talking about, but then there was a board glitch there and someone linked here, and I joined up and never looked back.  I think the DJ never recovered from that glitch... I'd peek in from time to time but almost no one was posting.  I stopped bothering to look at the other boards I had been on too.  I'm fairly certain Vegsource is long defunct?

That was in 2008 when my older ones were 8 - my youngest is now 20 and I'm done homeschooling but apparently not with this board!  😂❤️

[73349]

I read the book first. I joined when DS was at the end of PreK, almost 8 years ago.

[GoodGrief3]

Late ‘90s, it got mentioned on an AOL message board (I think the Five in a Row homeschooling board, which was the preschool curric we were using at the time). Read the book shortly after, and followed the program as written for a short time. Then made lots of modifications :-)