This is a long page with a lot of words. Use the links below to read what interest you:

Who are We?
The inspiration for Big Green Chair
Why a website and a blog?
What we believe
Our faith
To secular homeschoolers
Our homeschool philosphy

 

Who are we?

We are David and Amber Benton, homeschooling parents of six boys in Charlotte, NC. We are Makers and entrepeneurs.  David is a software developer (programmer) by trade and Amber is an illustrator when there is time. Both are involved in the Maker and robotics community in Charlotte, NC.

We also both grew up in the Smoky Mountains of NC and love hiking and camping with the boys.

 

The inspiration for Big Green Chair

The idea for Big Green Chair was born many years ago. Our very first new furniture purchase was a large, green chair and a half and ottomon.  This was long before we had any intent  to homeschool.  It quickly became the gathering place for piles of books and boys – a destination all it’s own, “Let’s go to the Big Green Chair!”  Even now, worn and frayed, it is still where much fun and learning happen.

 

Why a website and blog?

We believe that our challenges and interests are not unique (even with six boys), but are shared by many other homeschooling families. Technology has had a huge impact on our family and our school – mostly for the good. There are opportunities that our children have through the use of technology that we they would not have had otherwise. We would like to be intentional about our use of technology and create a place we can learn together with and from you.

The Big Green Chair blog is a place where we share and learn together. Homeschool Voices is a place within the the blog where we can discuss issues that are of interest to the homeschooling culture.  We strive to make the blog of interest to everyone. Our goal is for Homeschool Voices to be of interest to all homeschoolers regardless of philosophy, but realize we can only do this to the degree that we are successful in building community.

If you like what you read on the blog (or don’t like what you read here) and would like to join the conversation by sharing your story through our Homeschooling Voices column drop an email to either of us at: someoneimportant@biggreenchair.com

For those of you who enjoy and invite technology into your lives we, the Bentons, hope you find our blog and future website encouraging.

 

What We Believe

We share this because we live in a politically fractured culture and because we are interested in building community. The homeschooling community is no exception – we toss around names and philosophies that define us – and there is nothing wrong with that. We all want to be known – we are happiest when we have found our own tribe.

We want to be clear because we are members of both Christian and secular homeschooling communities. We are also members of homeschool communities of varying philosphies. Yes, to be honest, part of this is so that we can engage a large homeschool community for eventual commercial purposes (we did describe ourselves as entrepeneurs), but I hope that as you get to know us you will find that it is really from a genuine interest in building bridges. So if you are interested here is what we believe.

 

Our faith

We are a Christian family. We are members of a Southern Baptist church. We believe that the purpose in life is to glorify God and we can do that best by enjoying Him. We believe that God is at work in the world now bringing unto himself a people from all tribes and tongues and nations who will glorify Him together. We believe that this is the commission of the catholic church (lower case c’s important here) and are a part of that work.

 

To secular homeschoolers

We know that in the homeschool community there is ‘the great divide’ that can often loom between Christian and secular homeschoolers. We have had numerous conversations about what it is like to be a secular homeschooler with friends – in years past it was difficult to find community, curriculum and educational opportunites that weren’t overtly Christian. We don’t want a great divide in our space here on the blog. We welcome you and want to hear your voice. What’s important to you, what are your struggles, what inspires you – consider being a part of our Homeschool Voices. And we hope that you will find Big Green Chair a helpful and welcoming place as well.

 

Our homeschool philosophy

Our school is guided by the principles of Charlotte Mason. You will find posts on the blog about her ideas and posts about how to implement them. When we first began the blog we were hesitant to put so many Mason related posts on the blog because we didn’t want to create a space only for the Charlotte Mason community that we are in. But it’s what we know – so look for more of those soon. We also want to have information and discussions there that are unrelated to Mason – but you have to bring those with you – consider contributing to HomeschoolVoices.