Avivah Werner
Avivah Werner is a parenting consultant, blogger, foster parent and homeschooling mom of twenty years. Her eleven amazingly awesome kids range from 27 – 3 and have justified her belief that the time spent raising them has been an incredible investment as the dividends continue to multiply. For inspiration and support in crafting a life that brings you fulfillment and joy, visit her at avivahwerner.com.
Aviva Fischer
As the founder of Literacy Unlocked, Aviva Fischer is a Certified Orton-Gillingham Structured Literacy Teacher who specializes in working with students who have dyslexia. She is certified by the Center for Reading Instruction (CERI), which is a subsidiary of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and by the Institute for Multisensory Education (IMSE). As a homeschooler for 10 years, she understands the unique needs of homeschoolers and the challenges they face when teaching your own children to read.
Amy Bodkin
Amy Bodkin, co-founder of Ani VeAmi, 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 Ani VeAmi and 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 lives in Northern Florida with her family.
Malkie Swidler
Malkie Swidler, co-founder of Ani VeAmi, is the mother of a tween, teens and an adult who has been homeschooling for close to 20 years. She encourages parents to see their children’s strengths. Malkie lives in Raanana, Israel with her family.
Yehudis Litvak
Yehudis Litvak, co-founder of Ani VeAmi, has been homeschooling for over eleven years. Her oldest child graduated high school last year. 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. Yehudis lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Leigh Bar-Yakov
Leigh Bar-Yakov, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and parenting consultant who specializes in developmental attachment based therapy. She offers consultation, seminars and courses to parents, educators, and professionals both online and in person. She has homeschooled her four children for over 18 years. She aims to help parents safeguard their children’s’ hearts – “The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides, and in its depths it has its pearls too” (Vincent Van Gogh).
Karen Golden
Karen Golden is an international storyteller/musician, especially on Zoom these days, and award winning recording artist. Her written stories have been published in eight anthologies including seven collections of Jewish Short stories. Karen was a homeschool mom for 17 years and is the Founder/ Director of Creative Learning Place, a homeschool learning center founded in 2009 in Los Angeles, that has gone virtual. Karen is passionate about creating a paradigm shift in education and has helped 100’s of families navigate their homeschool journeys.
Karen is also passionate about playing music, especially Klezmer music, and she is a co-founder of Klezmer Arts Institute Los Angeles KAILA which started in April, 2019.
When she is not out and about making story, musical or educational connections, Karen can be found in her garden tending to her many flowers, plants and turtles.
Her greatest joy is her husband Steve and daughters Hyla and Soli and their beloved dog Maymay.
To learn more about Karen please click: https://www.karengolden.com/
Sara Rayvych
Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.
Yehudis Eagle
Much to her absolute delight, Yehudis Eagle still has a place amongst the ranks of home educating parents. Thanks to her youngest’s (of 11 ka”h) surprising reverse decision, she has entered her 29th year of this remarkable journey. She loves sharing homeschooling lore, any day, anytime.
Louise Fox
Louise Fox has been a homeschooling mum for nearly 20 years. She grew up in the UK and made Aliya in 1990 after completing her BA at Cambridge University. Her four “kids” were all born and grew up in Israel. Two are full-fledged adults, one is in the army, and the 16 year old is still at home.
Bethany Mandel
Bethany Mandel is a homeschooling mother of four children (two are school-aged) and a follower of the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education (she is the creator and admin of the Facebook group Jewish Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, and she has a Jewish Charlotte Mason blog and YouTube channel). She is an accomplished freelance writer, with her work having appeared in the New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, the Atlantic, the Forward, JTA, the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner and more.
Konstantin Litovsky
Konstantin Litovsky, his wife Nina and their four children live in Sarasota, Florida. They have been homeschooling using a competency-based hybrid unschooling approach that includes both child-led learning and resources such as tutors and outside classes. Konstantin and Nina are small business owners who started their careers working as employees of large companies and gradually transitioned into the small business world. Konstantin is the owner of Litovsky Asset Management, a retirement plan advisory and investment management firm. Nina is the owner of Nina Interactive, a web design agency specializing in building websites for doctors and dentists.
More information about their homeschooling philosophy and journey can be found here: https://savechildrensaveworld.com/about/
Konstantin can be reached at krlitovsky@comcast.net
Yael Aldrich
Yael Aldrich is a homeschooling mother of four wonderful individuals. Home is where the school is – in Tokyo, Honolulu, DC, Boston, Beijing, and lots of other cities. She loves to help parents learn about home education through her organization of many Torah Home Education conferences. Yael learned more grammar in homeschooling than she ever did in school and is proud of that fact. She’ll fight anyone about Oxford commas and the proper use of semicolons!
Rabbi Johnny Solomon
Rav Johnny Solomon is a highly experienced Jewish educator, Curriculum writer and Jewish Educational consultant who is dedicated to creating and providing online learning solutions for homeschoolers. Born in the UK and now living in Israel, Johnny divides his time between teaching in Seminaries, writing curricula for Jewish schools around the world, and serving as the Educational Director for Zehud (an online supplementary school for Jewish children in Europe), as well as Educational Director of Kitah – which is a new and bold initiative that seeks to provide engaging text-based Jewish learning resources for homeschoolers. To learn more about Rav Johnny, see https://rabbijohnnysolomon.com
Sarah Evans
Sarah Evans has been officially (and unexpectedly) homeschooling her brood since 2018, after stepping away from a 20-year career in education, leadership and assessment. She is an occasional speaker on Jewish topics in her community, works part-time for her community mikveh, and started a YouTube channel, Evans Homeschool Adventure, to share curricular resources with other Jewish parents. Click here to listen to a recent interview with Sarah on the To (Mom) Life podcast (episode 18). You can also find Sarah on Facebook and Instagram.
Rivkah Harper
Rivkah Harper and her husband, Yehuda, live in Dallas, TX and have 4 boys (11, 17, 18 and 19). They are in their 15th year of homeschooling. As much as she has homeschooled her boys, Rivkah feels that it is really she that is being homeschooled and considers herself a Homeschooled Mom. Life is all about ups and downs and insides and outsides and no two children learn the same. Aside from learning how to come up with (hopefully) fun math games and/or challenges mid-sentence, she tells her boys they don’t have snow days, but instead, they enjoy taking spring and summer days off of school. She has a BA in Music with a minor in Physics. In her spare time, she enjoys painting and getting back into music and learning a new instrument. With just one boy home to teach now, she is transitioning from a love of teaching her children to her other passion of helping other women have amazing marriages. You can follow her at: http://atorahlife.com/blog.
Rabbi Meir Uri Gottesman
Rabbi Meir Uri Gottesman is the author of sixteen Jewish-themed novels, which haven been translated to Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Spanish, and he is read worldwide. Rabbi Gottesman lives in Toronto, where he served as Rabbi, and he is a “professional Zeideh,” grandfather, B”H. His wife, Susan, who was his partner and best friend, passed away six years ago. Rabbi Gottesman invites any parent (or child) to feel Heimish to contact him or ask questions. He would love to hear from anyone who wants to connect, and he can be contacted at meirurigottesman@gmail.com.
Zemira Ozarowski
Mrs. Zemira Ozarowski has been in the field of Jewish education for almost two decades. She currently serves as Director of Community Programming at the OU Israel Center where she runs the L’Ayla Women’s Learning Initiative. In that capacity, in addition to teaching, she runs many women’s learning programs including the monthly Rosh Chodesh seminar, mother-daughter programs, mini-midrasha programs, and more. Zemira holds a master’s degree from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration. She is also a certified Yoetzet Halacha and the author of the Torat Imecha Parsha Series books for children. Zemira lives with her husband and children in Mitzpe Yericho.