It's still one of those unusually vivid memories of mine.  It was 1997 and I can recall exactly what the living room of the townhouse we were staying in looked like.  It was colonial style with dark wood furniture and Wedgewood blue accents.  I wanted to stay forever.  Except it was a hotel and we had just had our fifth baby and a cat and so that wasn't within the realm of possibility. ; ) 

I was standing in that blue room when Maureen and Rachel were emailing about a book project.  A really good book project.  In 1997 there were not entire sections in bookstores devoted to homeschooling.  You were hard pressed to find anything in print that related to Catholic homeschooling at all.  This very good idea was to remedy that by publishing a collection of experiences and advice from real live Catholic homeschool moms.  

Fast forward 17 years.

Although there is one kindergartener left in my living room these days I have found myself discussing preschool anew with my daughters and daughter-in-law and new homeschooling moms.  It is still a subject that is so very near and dear to my heart.  Increasingly I have thought back to that volume of stories from years ago.  It occurred to me that I actually had my thoughts collected in one place and would not change a thing about what I wrote despite having journeyed through those early years with five more babies since then.  Problem was I could not locate my original volume and had lost the chapter notes in a computer crash over the years.  Maureen to the rescue.  

Maureen has graciously uploaded the entire volume to Amazon and it is free through Friday.  Mine is safely in hand once again so I am prepared when someone asks, "What about the little ones?"  There is also a whole lot of ground covered in the rest of the book.  It was written by moms (and a Dad or two!) in living rooms during an era where there were not co-ops in every city and internet connections began with a dial tone.  You did not need a fortune then but you had to be really dedicated and committed to hang in and thrive.  There stories are ready to download right now.  They are still relevant and today they are free. : ) 

A Catholic Homeschool Treasury