After I graduated from SPU with a Music Education degree in 1980, I taught in Sitka, Alaska, for two years among Alaska native high school students. I then received a Master’s in Music Education from Western Washington University, where I met my husband, John Sleadd.
I taught music part time for four years after our first child was born, but I wanted to be home with my children. I finally became a full-time homemaker in 1991. I home-educated my five children through the years, and I am now a proud grandmother of five while still home-educating my youngest son, who is in ninth grade.
I feel this is what God called me to be. I greatly enjoyed being a music teacher and choir director, but nothing has satisfied me more than to pour my life into my own children. The impact and influence I have on my children is far greater than what I had on my public-school students. Being a homemaker is harder and less glamorous, but the rewards and benefits have been far more satisfying.
In some ways I live “The Hidden Life,” a life centered on home, but the small changes I make in the daily lives of my family will have a big impact on the Kingdom of God.
How many other women like myself attended SPU and followed the same path? I would wager there are many — wives of businessmen, wives of missionaries, wives of doctors, lawyers, presidents, and police. They are not seeking fame but are helping their husbands make a mark on the world. Their service, in sum, is indeed no small change.
—Arden Sleadd '80
