Writing has been a passion since primary school in my native Rio de Janeiro, where I grew up the seventh of a noisy, large, and happy Catholic family. I graduated with an Art degree from a small Catholic college and came to the USA to pursue graduate work when I met my husband Geoff, then a fellow grad student, now a university professor and international scientist. Our seven children range from 14 to 28 years old and as they grow into adulthood they enjoy activities like sending us postcards from all the continents of the world, including a recent sent from the single Post Office in Antarctica! As a mother at home, embracing Catholic family life centered on both faith and academics, I have been active in myriad ways as I watched my children grow in virtue and in excellence. They have grown to be Geography experts, piano and voice virtuosi, young successful professionals, dedicated teachers, classical language scholars and budding artists. During my homeschooling career of over twenty years I have always been very involved in local homeschool groups, for example teaching Art, Geography, History, and Latin to small groups. I have taught NFP and have also written Catholic plays for children, as well as articles and features for Catholic periodicals. I am the author of the Catholic Textbook Project workbooks, and wrote the chapter on Geography in the the book "Why Should I Learn This?" (edited by Maureen Wittman, 2015) I have been a book reviewer for 20+ years for various sites including Love2Learn and Amazon.com. In just about every place I have lived (and there were many of them!) I have led book clubs for women. An occasional poet, I was recently awarded a national poetry prize from the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. With the two youngest now quite self-propelled as part-time homeschoolers, I am beginning to look into ways to become more involved in my parish and community. I have a few writing projects in the back burner... and a supportive husband wh