“Life is school and school is life,” is the mantra at Helaman’s Academy in Redmond, Washington, where head schoolmarm Doreen Blanding plays teacher, nurse, school bus driver, cook, laundress and most importantly mom to a family of five boys and one little princess. Doreen has been homeschooling since the day she went visiting and a friend shared with her this weird and crazy idea of homeschooling. That was back in 1993 when her oldest was just barely two and she has never looked back since.

Doreen was studying elementary education went she left Brigham Young University to be with her husband in his new job with Microsoft in her home state of Washington. She would love to go back and get her paper diploma, but for now she loves getting her real life diploma. She feels she has learned more from her “on the job” training as a homeschooling mom than any school room could have taught her.

She loves music, cross stitching, sewing, gardening, reading, learning, scouting, and her family. She has served as a Relief Society President, Young Women’s President, but spent most of her time in primary as a music leader or pianist (her favorite calling). She is a soccer coach, web master and president of Washington State Latter-day Saint Family Educators (WALDSFE) and helps put on a yearly Family Education Conference for LDS families in Washington State. Her main goal in raising and training her children is to prepare them to fulfill the mission the Lord has called them to do (D&C 88:77-80).

In 2004 Doreen was asked to sit on the board of the new and exciting LDS National Homeschool Association. She is a regular contributor to the weekly free newsletter, The Sentinel and invites all to sign up. To read what she has written please see her author page, her blog and also her soapbox.

She also supports her husband in his online board games store, House Full of Games, and will even sit down and play a few with the family just for fun. And she hates to cook!

Last update: November, 2006

Disclaimer: Though WALDSFE, Helaman's Academy and/or Doreen Blanding does its best to thoroughly screen every product, company, website and individual listed on these pages, please note that WALDSFE, Helaman's Academy and/or Doreen Blanding does not endorse any product, company, website or individual listed. If you have a problem with a page, find broken links, or companies that no longer support homeschooling please send email .