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| Where did the name Timberdoodle come from? |
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Years ago we had a dream of breeding Golden Retrievers. We used the name Timberdoodle, a small game bird, for our kennel name when we registered for a business license with WA State. Our Golden did not cooperate with our plans and so the dreams of a kennel were scrapped.
About that time, we became interested in selling the home education supplies that we were using. Being long on dreams, but short on money, we decided not to pay for an additional license and kept the name Timberdoodle. It was a good decision for us, as it is "odd" enough that nearly everyone remembers it. However, it has its pitfalls as we have had a number of checks made out to Tim Berdoodle, and Dan has had correspondence that began "Dear Tim", or "Dear Mr. Berdoodle." We have also had catalog requests addressed to names ranging from TinkerDoodle(fairly common) to Turkey Noodle (fairly rare)!
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| When did Timberdoodle begin? |
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Timberdoodle began in 1985, when Deb realized that the homeschool supplies she used with her 3 daughters, ages 1, 2, and 3, were in great demand. She soon discovered that if she purchased products in case quantities, she could resell the excess to fellow homeschoolers, saving them money off of retail, and making enough pin money to be a helpful supplement to Dan's income. |
| How old was your youngest employee? Your oldest? |
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Our youngest employees have been Abel and Pearl, who each got on the Timberdoodle payroll at age 2. We had to get a special variance from a judge for this, but they were perfectly capable of putting items on shelves, picking up packaging material and dumping trash cans filled with waste paper. Our oldest employee was Grandma, who did our bookkeeping for years, retiring from Timberdoodle at 70.
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| How do you preview products for young kids? |
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This has gotten harder as our youngest is now 14! We find ourselves borrowing kids at conferences, from our Bible study and anywhere else we can, in addition to relying on our many years of experience. So far, our customers inform us that this combination of methods is working really well!
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| Tell me about your family |
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There are 7 of us, Dan & Deb are the parents, with their five children: Joy, Hope, Grace, Abel, and Pearl.
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| What is the biggest misperception of your family? |
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Many people assume that because we sell programs for everything from Spanish to Pre-Calculus, Greek to piano, that the kids must have all completed all of these programs, and all be little geniuses. In actuality, we are a real family just like everyone else, and no one child has been able to take advantage of every product that we sell. We often are excited to find a product, simply because we really need it. (Sequential Spelling for instance - we have always been a family of horrible spellers, and are ecstatic to have finally found a spelling program that really works!) We also find that sometimes programs come along after our family needs them. Our oldest children grew up without the benefit of Teaching Textbooks, but would have been helped a great deal by them, had they been available. We also find that sometimes we just don't have time to do everything we want, and other times a certain child has no aptitude for an elective subject – or an great zeal for another area, without time to do both. |
| Do you take vacations? What makes it a good vacation for you? |
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Vacations are an all-too-rare treat here, because we always have so much to do. We do try to get away as a family at least once or twice a year. We're cheapskates, and each child usually has to pay their own way. (They all work for Timberdoodle – so why not?) Three things serve to make a vacation particularly good for us.
The first is a God-focus. Frankly, vacations that revolve around us left us all cranky and mad at each other – not exactly a God-glorifying situation! Once we started taking advantage of our vacation time to complete a short study or watch a sermon series we hadn't had time to do, the focus of our time shifted, and so did our attitudes.
Secondly, we go to a place where we can hang out as a family in God's creation. Our family enjoys taking an annual snow trip, where we can snowshoe, ski, or just plain enjoy the snow. A fossil hunting trip at the coast was a great highlight – the weather was absolutely miserable, but the camaraderie and marvel at God's creation was remarkable.
Third, and hardest for us, is a servant's heart. The vacations where we go with the intention of serving (hosting a reunion…) often don't feel like vacations to us, and we sometimes struggle to go into it with a pure heart. However, with this focus we find that we walk away knowing that these vacations are truly the most rewarding.
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| What subjects are the most natural for your family? |
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Thinking skills and reading. Both are an overflow of what goes on all day, everyday in our home. Many of us are addicted readers, and we constantly engage each other about what we read, developing lots of critical thinking skills. I recently read that the average child has less than 10 minutes a day of meaningful conversation with their parents – we are rarely in the same room without some sort of conversation going on. It takes genuine effort to be quiet so others can read! |
| What subjects are the hardest for your family? |
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Anything that involves drill work or following the rules. We are a lot better at grasping concepts than at staying faithful to drill anything. We are also one of those families that never quite follows a recipe – and that is true of more than just cooking! |
| What do you and your family enjoy doing together? |
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We enjoy almost anything that we do together, from hosting church functions to fossil finding expeditions. Lately the four oldest children have joined the local fire department, and love responding together to calls for everything from CPR to brush fires. Pearl is eager to join as soon as she is old enough, and this opportunity to all work together for the good of the community has made a huge impact on our lives. |
| What would you say is your philosophy of education? |
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Schoolwork is for families who don't have a life.
The logic is that schoolwork is done to prepare a child for life, and a family that is living live will naturally be involving their child in their activities and training them to take on responsibilities. Does this mean that we do no schoolwork? No, we typically devote 1-2 hours a day to covering those subjects which are not naturally taught in everyday life, like history; or which are worthy of a specific time investment, such as reading.
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