Dachelle McVey
How to Create One-of-A-Kind Homeschool Courses for Your Teen
Dachelle is a working homeschooling mom of 3 in the South. She is the owner of HideTheChocolate.com, a blog about her adventures in homeschooling and parenting. She is also the author of dozens of online book clubs for kids from preschool to high school at her site Literary Adventures for Kids where she uses her experiences as an educator in the traditional system to create courses that inspire children. You can often find her reading a good book (or even sometimes just an okay book) and enjoying a jar of Nutella — don’t judge. 😉
Rachel Lebowitz
Principles over Practices: The Why is More Important than the How
Interactions with Beauty: Why the Arts and Nature are Even More Important than the Three R’s
Rachel Lebowitz is an expert in the Charlotte Mason method of education. She has years of experience helping homeschool families find a rhythm that suits their individual needs. She has developed wonderful resources to enhance the homeschooling experience for everyone in the family.
Rachel and her husband have always homeschooled their two children using the Charlotte Mason method.
Her motto is “Easier, Simpler, Your Way” because she believes that homeschooling should be “Easier, Simpler, and done Your Way.” You can find Rachel at cmplenary.com.
Lari Jo Edwards
Charlotte Mason & Nature Inquiry
Lari Jo Edwards is the Science Education Specialist at A Charlotte Mason Plenary. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science degree in Ecological Teaching and Learning from Lesley University.
Lari Jo developed a passion for the outdoors at a very early age through Scouting. She was fortunate to have many teachers and mentors that fostered her love of science and further encouraged her love of the outdoors.
To quote Charlotte Mason,
“We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”
To that end, Lari Jo is passionate about getting families outdoors to connect with nature. One of her favorite methods of connecting to nature is through the various techniques of nature journaling.
All you need is a nature journal and curiosity! These two things can foster many connections in students and teachers, whether through workshops, field trips, or online classes.
Lari Jo has taught in several different educational settings, which allows her to think outside the box, and meet the needs of her students, teachers, and families. Her initial teaching experience out of college was in a formal classroom setting. She later taught and tutored with homeschool co-ops that used the Classical Education model. Most recently, Lari Jo taught in informal, outdoor classroom settings at the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program in South Texas. Within the past few years, she discovered the Charlotte Mason method through local homeschool families and fell in love with it.
She believes, as Charlotte Mason did, that, “The sense of beauty comes from early contact with nature.”
However, it truly is never too late to find wonder and beauty in the world around you. So, get outside and be curious!
RaeAnna Goss
A Charlotte Mason Music Education
RaeAnna is a second generation homeschooler living her dream just outside of Music City, USA (Nashville, TN.) Homeschooling provided her with the opportunity to play many different instruments as a child (piano, guitar, clarinet, accordion) and took that love of practice and performance to Lee University where she started her career as a music educator. After teaching music in the public schools for 10 years, she traded her public school teacher hat for homeschool mom teacher hat! RaeAnna has authored the book Composer Study Companion for homeschool moms to bring active listening to music history lessons. She also created Solfa Sofa, a free YouTube series for teaching solfege singing and shares homeschool thoughts on her instagram and blog. When her family is not reading books, they are writing books! RaeAnna’s two children created the world of The Traveler’s League that was written by their dad, author Nick Goss. Follow their homeschool adventure on instagram at @gosshomeschool.
Ashley Weaver
Homeschool Science without a Curriculum
Ashley is a former English teacher and current homeschool mom of 3. She is a Charlotte Mason enthusiast, but loves to teach her kids with her own adapted style. On her YouTube Channel JOYFUL NOISE LEARNING she encourages other homeschool families in discovering more about Charlotte Mason and how the method can help them find their own homeschooling style. She is the author of the eBook “Ready, Set, Homeschool!” a step by step guide to get started homeschooling. She also loves to sing, play board games, read several books at once, start but not finish projects, and have coffee dates with friends.
Amy Bodkin
What True Inclusion Looks Like: Honoring Personhood When Teaching Multiple Levels of Abilities
Amy Bodkin is an Autistc Adult, School Psychologist, and Homeschool Mom to her two Autistic kids. She consults primarily with homeschool families as the Special Needs Consultant at A Charlotte Mason Plenary. She works with families who have experienced chronic health conditions, disabilities, trauma, asynchronous development, etc. Her practice is guided by Charlotte Mason’s idea that “Children are born persons” and makes it her goal to see each child as an individual, not a diagnosis.
Amy has recently started a new venture at amybodkin.com to provide a home to her advocacy work and her new podcast “Special Needs Kids are People Too!”
Michelle Morrow
Practical Applications: How To Actually Make Charlotte Mason Work – 20 years of Failures and Triumphs
Michelle Morrow lives in Australia. She began homeschooling in 2001, the same year her fourth child was born.
Before kids Michelle worked as a registered nurse, midwife, and nurse educator.
Michelle and her husband became interested in home education after having children. Three years into their homeschool journey, she began using the Charlotte Mason Method which they used for the next 15 years until her last child graduated from homeschooling.
All her children started university at 16 without a high school diploma. One is a doctor. Another is completing her Masters in Teaching. Another is a digital artist for Fox Studios in Sydney. Her youngest owns two small businesses and is completing her business degree.
For many years Michelle Morrow had a passion to provide other families with the Charlotte Mason curriculum she always wanted but never had. Finally, in late 2016, she saw how it could be done and she started My Homeschool. Today, thousands of families around Australia and internationally have enjoyed using My Homeschool curriculum as a way to educate their children in a supported environment.
Michelle has appeared on podcasts, radio, newspapers and TV, and is a homeschool conference speaker.
Christy Gandara
Narration across Curriculum and Beyond
Christy is a seasoned homeschool mom in California. She didn’t send her 3 “bugs” to school because she knew no one would be a better teacher than she is.
(Christy tends to be a bit over the top.) She was also terrified, quite frankly.
Having her kids call her “mom” all day, didn’t seem quite right. It was really awkward to have them call her “Mrs. Gandara” – so during their first week of school the kids and Daddy brainstormed together. They came up with a special teacher name just for the Happy Hive (then the Gandara Bug Academy). The name comes from the teacher in the Little Rascals television show… Mrs. Crabtree.
During their homeschool years, the Happy Hive used an eclectic mix of Homeschool methodologies including Charlotte Mason, Thomas Jefferson Education, Classical, and School at Home. The overarching philosophy of “there’s no wrong way to homeschool” permeated every lesson.
The best “curriculum” the Happy Hive Homeschool ever used was off the cuff vs textbooks. One year everything they did was based on the “Holiday of the Day”. It was an amazing year full of learning and memories. Happy Hive Homeschooling is dedicated to helping you use such Holiday of the Day learning in your educational endeavors while adopting the mindset that there is no wrong way to homeschool.
Christy was also a classroom teacher in California, holding a valid California Credential and teaching in multiple grades K-8, with the emphasis on grades 3-5 for the majority of her 19-year career. She has experience working in both public and private schools. It’s no surprise, holiday teaching was her favorite thing to weave into the classroom.
Creating downloadable curriculum, coaching other homeschooling families and feeding the backyard birds is a full-time job for “Mrs. Crabtree” now. Christy considers herself blessed to help homeschool families, classroom teachers, and parents experience the joy of connection and make lasting memories with unique, academically sound holiday curriculum based on the holiday of the day!
Teresa Wiedrick
Deschool Your Homeschool Mindset
Teresa Wiedrick sips non-fat cappuccinos in cafes in her mountain hometown, while waiting for one of her four children to finish their dance, choir, soccer, curling, or music lessons. Oh, and she writes.
Teresa wrote a book of encouragement, Homeschool Mama Self-Care: Nurturing the Nurturer. She offers one-on-one homeschool & life coaching, online courses, hosts a seasonal Bed & Breakfast, stare at impressionist art when she gets to the city, listens to classical and jazz, and reads like a hungry baby bird.
You can find Teresa at www.capturingthecharmedlife.com.
Yehudis Litvak
Living Books for Every Subject
Yehudis Litvak is the owner of HomeschoolBoost.com, the host of Digital Homeschool Convention, co-founder of Ani VeAmi – the Jewish Living Education curriculum, and the author of its curriculum guides. She has been homeschooling for thirteen years. She is passionate about giving every child an opportunity to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically in a homeschool environment. Yehudis loves to read and write living books, and she is the author of a Young Adult historical fiction trilogy, as well as numerous short stories. You can find her at Homeschool Boost and Ani veAmi.
