About Us

Welcome: 

Hello and Welcome to Cedar Tree Schoolhouse! I’m Nicole and a homeschooling mom to five kiddos, wife to James, and an educator at heart. Although I never would have imagined this path, I’ve been homeschooling my children for 9 years (10 if you count pre-K!) and have learned so much along the way. Although it certainly has its challenges, serving as the primary educator for my children has brought me such joy, growth, creativity, and the opportunity to keep learning right alongside my children. We draw from the Charlotte Mason and classical homeschooling methods, and I seek to bring truth, beauty and goodness to our family studies. 

My Background: 

I studied philosophy and political theory in college at Seattle Pacific University, alongside a great books program that exposed me to so many interesting ideas, poets, composers, artists, and a whole lot of history. I loved it so much that after college, I married my best friend and we took off for graduate school in Princeton to study theology and philosophy. After our studies on the East Coast, we both moved to the Chicago area to work at Wheaton College - James taught philosophy and I worked in student leadership with some amazing students. As our family started growing, we eventually decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest to be near family, James switched gears to the business world, and I decided to focus my efforts on the homefront and try my hand at homeschooling - and the rest is history! I’ve now helped run a co-op for 7 years, taught a variety of history classes every year for grades K-8, and this has led me to my current endeavor of writing history and morning time curriculums.

Cedar Tree Schoolhouse Resources: 

My history and morning time guides seek to provide robust and wonder-filled curriculums to families in a well-organized, easy to use format. The history is brought to life through rich literature and fun hands-on projects, crafts and recipes to bring your learning to life and create meaningful connections and lasting memories for your family. Additionally, these guides also incorporate multiple other subjects such as Bible, poetry, geography, art and music. Each guide is plug-and-play with detailed lists, instructions, and easy to access resources, but is also easily customizable to your family’s particular interest and needs. I create family-style curriculums that are geared towards children aged 5-12, although they can easily incorporate younger and older children as well. This curriculum spreads a wide feast and seamlessly combines history, Bible, art study, poetry, music, notebook narrations, cooking, and so much more! For your elementary aged students, simply add a math and science or nature curriculum into their days and your child will receive a full and delight-filled education.