Our Homeschool Story

Our homeschool journey began August 10, 2020 due to Covid-19. My daughter and I shared the responsibilities of teaching her children. Within a few months, we noticed the children flourished in the homeschool environment. At that time, we decided this would be our method of education long term for them.

Unfortunately, in the Spring of 2021, my daughter, their mother, died unexpectedly in a drowning accident. She fell into a flooded, fast moving river and was missing ten days before she was recovered deceased. Our formal home school education came to a screeching halt temporarily. Sadly, the children were learning incredibly difficult life lessons instead. The children started their formal lessons again in May 2021, limping across the finish line to complete their state required hours. It was a difficult year, but they finished.

We are currently finishing our third year of homeschooling. Last year had it's ups and downs, but the children have continued to thrive educationally in the home environment. We tried some new curricula and most of it simply didn't work for us. We went back to what did work and I learned an important lesson. If something works, don't change it no matter what works for other families. We are all unique so what works for one family might not work for another. :)

Thank you for joining us on this journey. We appreciate you!

Our Cherokee Family Story

We are the daughter and great grandchildren of an Indian boarding school survivor who refused to cry when her parents visited her at school because she knew it would make them cry too.

We are the grandchild/great great grandchildren of a "first generation" Cherokee born in the United States. He was born in 1922. All the generations of Cherokees who came before him were born in the Cherokee Nation, not the United States.

We are the grandchildren of Nancy Fisher Carey who was born in 1900 and died in 1957. She only spoke Cherokee and a bit of broken English. She had no choice in becoming a U.S. citizen. That citizenship was forced on her through the Dawes Act, allotment, and the statehood of Oklahoma.

We are the grand nieces and grand nephews of Jim Pickup, two time chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the grandchildren of Johnson Fisher Sr, Cherokee Nation councilman from the Cooweescoowee District from 1881-1883.

We are direct lineal descendants of the Old Settler Dennis and Tucker families who removed from the Cherokee Nation in the east to Indian Territory under the Treaties of 1817-1819.

We are direct lineal descendants of the Ave Vann/Betsy Scott family that removed with the Major Ridge detachment voluntarily after the Treaty of New Echota was signed and before the forced removal today known as the Trail of Tears.

We are direct lineal descendants of savvy Cherokee business woman and ferry owner, Sally Hughes, who removed from the old Cherokee Nation to Indian Territory on her own before the forced removal. In genealogical terms, she's our 6th/8th great grandmother and our descent from her is well documented.

We are direct lineal descendants of the Tadpole family that was forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears in the summer detachments that were under the direction of the U.S. Army. Many Cherokees became gravely ill or died in the summer detachments so removal was delayed until fall.

We are direct lineal descendants of the Carey Cherokee family who supported the Treaty Party and removed during the forced removal with the Bell Detachment, taking a different route than any of the other detachments.

We are direct lineal descendants of the Boots, Hatchet, Christie, Woodward, Scott, Downing and Jones families that were removed to Indian Territory in the Cherokee led detachments during the extremely cold and harsh winter of 1838-39.

We are the grandchildren of Dave Tadpole and cousins of George Pumpkin, two soldiers who refused to fight against the treaty the Cherokee Nation had with the United States during the Civil War despite the Nation's alliance with the Confederacy. Both joined the Union Indian Home Guard.

We are the grandchildren of four other Cherokee men who also served with the Union's Indian Home Guard during the Civil War - Fisher Hatchet, Johnson Fisher Sr, Mike Carey, and Ave Vann. Ave Vann died in service during a skirmish with Confederate Cherokees.

We are the grandchildren of Polly Vann Downing Tadpole who was listed on every roll of the Cherokee Nation from the 1835 Census, before the forced removal, to the Guion Miller roll, completed shortly after the statehood of Oklahoma.

We are the grandchildren of Polly Boots Smith, a Keetoowah Nighthawk who hid from the Dawes Commission, trying to avoid enrollment, but who was enrolled anyway, by informants, just like all the others who tried to avoid enrollment. Previous rolls were used to ensure all were accounted for.

We are the grandchildren of Polly Christie Fisher who lost her mother, Betsy Christie, on the Trail of Tears. They were all traveling in the Elijah Hicks detachment, so Polly may have been with her mother when she passed away and was buried along the Trail.

We are the nieces and nephews of the great Cherokee warrior Shoeboots and cousins of Ned Christie, legendary Cherokee warrior and statesman.

We are also the grandchildren of Hatchet, neighbor & ally of the highly revered Cherokee leader, White Path.

We are the grandchildren of ten people listed as Cherokee by blood on the Dawes Roll - Dick Carey (1), Aaron Carey, Dick Carey (2), Sally Carey, Polly Smith, Peggy Pumpkin, Sarah Sequoyah, Johnson Fisher, Nancy Fisher, and Polly Tadpole.

We are the grandchildren of another who almost lived long enough to be on Dawes. Darkie Tadpole Fisher was on her family's application but she died in childbirth before the Final Roll. She was 32 at the time of her death.

We are cousins to the Blanket, Pumpkin, Rabbit, Birdchopper, Killer, Swimmer, Bean, Thompson, Pickup, Smith, Shade, Cochran, Potts, Backbone, Roe, Moore, Chopper, Chewy, & Dreadfulwater Cherokee families, plus many more...

Those family connections (and others) come together to form our history, our Cherokee heritage. All authentic Cherokees have many familial connections to the Cherokee Nation and the Cherokee people just like we do.