The Family Page

There are six of us: Charles Burkholder, Miranda Hughes (that's me), and our children Erin Burkholder (9), Noah Burkholder (6), Sophie Burkholder (4) and baby Fiona (born January 2003).

Erin is very interested in learning all sorts of things. She is involved in piano and violin lessons. (You can read more about Erin's Violin at this link.) Erin is officially a homeschooler, being of Grade 4 age this year. She wants to be a writer or a cook when she grows up, and spends much of her current life reading and writing fantasy prose.

Noah is a sociable fellow who is shy for about twenty minutes after he first meets someone new, but then makes up for it in a big way. He is physically adventurous, a caring, sensitive guy, and is full of observations and questions about the world. He's grown up a lot in the past year and is now really applying himself to the types of learning that interest him in a systematic way. He is reading chapter books for pleasure now. He is quite competent in basic math. He playing the violin beautifully and has recently taken up the piano as well. He loves mythology and ancient history.

Sophie has the world's most cheerful smile and is precociously verbal and social (is this surprising in a third-born?). She's working away on the violin, and enjoys imaginative play, especially with her brother, for hours on end. She has an eye for detail and will probably turn out to be a visual learner like her sister. She is reading very well and is a highly self-motivated math learner.

Fiona is our latest addition. She's much-loved and endlessly doted on by her older siblings. She is cheerful and sociable. She began singing recognizable tunes at 14 months and is adding to her repertoire as the months roll by. She also surprised us all by graduating from diapers at 14 months!

Charles is father to this brood. He works as a physician at our local clinic and hospital, comprising half of the medical staff and taking on-call one in two. In his spare time he works on his old tractors (and no, we're not talking about anything as romantic as antiques here), does the scores of rural maintenance tasks our property requires, or works in his woodworking shop. He volunteers on the local Search and Rescue team and is threatening to take up fly-fishing.

Miranda is me, the website author, mother to the kids and wife of twelve years to Chuck. I'm a violinist, violist, and Suzuki violin teacher. I help direct the Slocan Community Inter-Generational String Orchestra and play in the Osprey Quartet and the Garland String Trio. I volunteer with our community website project, doing most of the graphic design work, and I've put together websites for various other organizations as well, including the Valhalla Summer School of Music. I'm also moderating an Unschooling Message Board at iVillage. In summer I enjoy bicycling and in winter I ski as much as I can. These days both pursuits usually involve towing and carrying children. In between, I find a few spare moments to sew for the kids or outerwear for all of us. I work a half-day a week as a physician. Most of all, though, I'm an impassioned homeschooling mom to my kids.

The Burkholders (click for e-mail links)
Chuck is the youngest of eight children in his family, so the Burkholder side of the family is numerous. The family lived on a farm on the outskirts of Markham, Ontario, Canada. Soon the farm will be under a Highway 407 clover leaf. That's progress, eh?

• Evelyn Burkholder, his mother
• Kris Nissley, husband Stan and children Nathan (wife Anna), Andrew and Amanda
• Louise Wideman, husband Dave and children Janine, Greg and Rhonda
• Ellie Nash, husband Murray and children Julie, Laurena and Joel
• Betti Erb, husband John and children Nicholaus and Conrad
• Marie Burkholder
• George Burkholder, wife Nancy and children Hannah, Emma and Veronica
• Freda Neufeldt, husband Quinton and children Alexandra and Jillian
• Chuck Burkholder, wife Miranda (that's me!) and children Erin, Noah and Sophie.

The Hughes (click for e-mail links)
Miranda is the eldest of four children. The family lived in Guelph, Ontario, a university town an hour from Toronto. Her parents left the empty nest, joining the Burkholder-Hughes in British Columbia in 1997.

• Daphne Hughes is my mother. My dad died of lymphoma in August 2003.
• Miranda Hughes (that's me again!), husband Chuck Burkholder and children Erin, Noah and Sophie.
• Jeremy Hughes and wife Emma Bishton and their child Oliver
• Jonathan Hughes and wife Robin Cooke, her daughter Jessica and their children Alexander and Paige
• Anna Hughes, doting aunt to the expanding new generation of Hugheses