About Me
I'm Maria Johnson, the writer and teacher
behind White Horse Literature. I'm a second-generation
homeschooler, having been educated at home by my parents, and
now am teaching my own lively crew with the help of my
left-brained, science-minded husband. I graduated magna
cum laude from Franciscan University in 2004 with
degrees, minors and honors in theology, British literature,
communications and Great Books of Western Civilization. I am
thrilled to combine those disparate interests in online
literature and writing classes for homeschooled teens.
What are my credentials for talking about Tolkien? I've
destroyed two different copies of Lord of the Rings
with repeated re-thumbing, I attended the midnight showing of
Peter Jackson's Two Towers dressed as a hobbit
(complete with fake furry feet,) and I convinced my staid
sister to wear pointy elf ears.
I've taught online literature classes since 2002, beginning
with Les Miserables while I was still in college,
and have had students go on to honors programs in multiple
colleges. One student won Aquinas College's 2016
Tolkien and Lewis High School Essay Contest with her paper written for
the Lord of the Rings course.
When I'm not teaching, I can be found curled up on the couch
with a mug of tea and a child or two, pouring over picture
books. I also enjoy baking, sewing and (if you ask the kids)
ordering people to clean up their mess. With five-soon-to-be-six rambunctious
boys and one rambunctious girl, these hobbies are indulged-in
often.