Hi, I'm Vicki Watson, creator of Interactive Study Guides. I began homeschooling my three daughters in 1994. The early years were fun, with lots of educational games and craft-like projects strewn all over the house. I remember going to our state homeschool convention and being overwhelmed by the choice of educational materials.

As the years passed, when I attended that same convention, I was distressed to discover that the choices for my daughters as they grew older were much slimmer. I have never been one for a totally packaged "curriculum." That wasn't what I was looking for. I was looking for something that would serve as a guide to "real" books, without being so overly analytical that it destroyed the joy of reading. I also wanted something that was not time-consuming for me in terms of preparation or grading.

The idea bounced around in my mind for years before I finally decided to create something myself. My background is in computer programming and I had a successful shareware business called KidStuff Software in the days before Windows. (Yes, there were computers before Windows!)

In Dumbing Us Down, John Taylor Gatto, award-winning public school teacher, says "The first lesson I teach is confusion. Everything I teach is out of context. I teach the un-relating of everything. I teach dis-connections."

It is my hope that these study guides do the opposite. Each guide focuses on a work of literature, then branches out to explore the author's religious and political worldview, as well as historical, geographic, and scriptural connections. Unlike something like Cliff's Notes, these study guides are not a substitute for reading the book. They are to encourage students to read good literature and to start exploring how that literature relates and is connected to other subjects or areas of life. I hope the guides teach the "relating of everything."

Given my background as a computer programmer and web designer, once I started writing the Literature Study Guides, I began to get ideas for study guides in other areas. The Learn the U.S. Presidents program and Introductory Computer Programming course are two of the first study guides that branch out in different areas. Stay tuned for more along those lines. I have plenty of ideas for future study guides!