Mike Donnelly, from the Home School Legal Defense Association, returns to my show this week wearing his dad hat.  When he’s not talking to me Mike serves as Staff Attorney and Director of International Relations for member affairs and is Adjunct Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College, in Virginia.  Mike and his wife teach their seven children at home and he is a frequent speaker and writer on many home school related topics some of which he has shared with us over the years on my show.

Mike and his hard working colleagues at HSLDA defend both the American and International right to choose how we educate our children and their convictions ensure that homeschooling remains a parental choice for all of us.  Today we are going to be chatting about some of the questions any parent may have while raising their children as strong Christians and future leaders: college debt, church liberalism and how to raise your sons to be men.  Pull up a chair and snag a cup of tea and listen in this Friday.

Did you know that everything happens through conversations?  Nothing exists that didn’t live once as a thought?  Assuming is the biggest barrier to effective communication?  Exciting stuff for wordmongers like me!  I am thrilled to welcome Lisa Giruzzi to my show today an expert in communications, not the technical stuff but the thoughts that pop out of our mouths, sometimes without permission!  Lisa and I are going to spend our time together exploring ways to bring what she does with corporate executives into our homes, and look at the key elements necessary for family members to achieve their goals and create the life they want.  She is the author of 31 Days to Transform Your Life, Bringing out the best in Your Employees: and co-author of the Amazon bestseller, 42 Rules for Creating WE.  She is also a co-host of the television talk show, Real Conversations, and is a dynamic speaker captivating audiences with her powerful message at keynotes, presentations and workshops nationwide.  Join me this week to discover ways to communicate with others in order to build what you want rather than go over things that can’t be changed.  

My job is to bust stereotypes and referring to my guest this week as a diva could strike some sensitive chords!  But let me clarify, a diva is a Prima Donna, a first lady and Sabrina Justison, playwright, singer-songwriter and fellow thespian, is a diva in her field.  Sabrina teaches acting classes, leads one week intensive Drama Camps and talks about Performing Arts at homeschool conventions.  She is going to help me take the arched eyebrow out of reactions to theatre and homeschooling being mentioned in the same breath when we talk about theatre being really good for the whole family!  Joking aside Sabrina has taught Fine Arts, Literature, Writing, and Latin, writes blogs for the 7Sisters website, for busy, or set in their ways, or rookie, or old hand homeschoolers everywhere.  Join us with your coffee this Friday and be entertained! 

This week my guest is Jane Dolby who has a public relations business called Delicious PR. She has a background in music and psychology and quips that it didn't take her long to discover she was better at promoting music than making it!  She now helps emerging artists develop their profiles.  We first met just over a year ago while I was visiting prospective digs with my student daughter in Leigh-on-Sea.  Although I’d set up three places to visit she was the only person I connected with that afternoon despite several attempts to meet with the other landladies.   God obviously had other plans!  My daughter had said she would “know”whether she wanted to live in the house by its feel.  A cheery, “do you want a cup of tea?” called from the kitchen to us standing at the open front door swept all her fears away!  One year on and Jane has agreed to join me for another cup of tea and natter this afternoon when we are going to be talking about the dramatic turn her life took three years ago.  

Today I am welcoming back one of my first guests from March 2010!  Julie Meekins and I talked about the diagnosis of her youngest child’s CHARGE Syndrome and the positive measures she, her husband and family took to help her daughter progress through the natural development of her body, step by step.  Julie is a certified neurodevelopmentalist and takes a holistic approach to child development.  She has also graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.  Julie and her husband founded March Forth Family and use their vast experience to help parents with children who have learning challenges big and small.  Join us today for a cuppa as we talk about quirky behaviours, social skills, disorganisation and so much more. 

Gretchen Roe from the Calvert School is my guest this week and we are going to be talking about the challenges faced by single homeschoolers who are very creative in how they bring home the bacon while managing to home educate their children.  We will be discussing the reality of living on one income in a two income world.  Provisions still need to be made for that rainy day which is a real possibility in our economically unstable world.  How do we support our spouses both financially and emotionally when the going gets tough and the coffers are empty?  Join me on Friday when Gretchen and I will talk about these difficult topics and acknowledge that God is sovereign and homeschooling is within reach despite our employment status.   

This Good Friday Robert Velarde, from the Wisdom of Pixar and Sonlight Curriculum, is going to join me and together we are going to reflect on the meaning of Lent, Holy Week and our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.  Robert is going to be sharing his personal walk from Atheismto Christianity with us.  By meditating on Christ’s redemption, particularly during this season of the church year, we all undergo renewal and personal change along our Christian walk, something we are called to do regularly.  We will have some Passion readings from the bible and hymn book, that are heard this week in church and in the end we will take a look at Easter for the modern man and what it means in the world today.   I look forward to you joining us this Friday for a hallowed hour to prepare us for the glory and Good News of Easter Sunday.  With cap and cup of tea in hand let’s remember who is Lord.  

I am excited to be welcoming my school teacher daughter to my show this week.  Paris McNeny reminded me that although she has spoken with me on Toginet Radio before it has always been in the company of her siblings.  She holds the title of first born daughter in the family and graduated top of her homeschool senior year.  She served as a missionary to Africa on The Mercy Ships, a large floating hospital bringing hope to the forgotten poor off the coast of West Africa.  Paris has always had a deep affiliation for children and on her return to America she attended college to get her Associate of Arts Degree in Education and a certificate for teaching special needs children.  When we left for England she high tailed it to the beach and lives in Corpus Christi in sight of the sea, although she dislikes the feel of sand between her toes.  She works as a teacher to support her studies at the local community college and to keep a roof over her head and food on her table.  Pour yourselves a cup of tea and join us to hear how this independent young lady is following her dream by making a difference in young people’s lives.  

I am welcoming back a British homeschooler who had a few surprising facts about education here when we chatted last year.  Steve Richards is one of the directors of Northstar Worldwide which offers support and resources to homeschooling families all over the world.  Steve is also a founding member of one of the home education groups in England called Home Service and he has spoken widely on the topic of home education in the United Kingdom and overseas.  Both he and his wife, Lyn, homeschooled their children and we are going to be talking about the flexibility of home education, Northstar Worldwide and touch on some of the secular issues in the forefront of British society today that may or may not be threatening Christianity. So join us and stir it up a little over a cup of tea on Friday.  

My guest this week is Linda Pilkington who was a struggling reader destined to become an illiteracy statistic until her fourth grade teacher stepped in. Linda learned that reading was fun!  She has since turned the written word into a career and owns an online business selling greetings cards and book club products.  City Castles formed the platform to launch her dream of one day writing, promoting and publishing a book.  Linda’s story of perseverance and faith in God is one only she can tell.  She has developed tools for teachers and parents to bring reading alive for their children through narration, role-playing and out loud readings.  Listen on Friday as Linda and I natter on about her books and how you too can have your reluctant readers saying, “reading is fun, I want to keep doing it.”  Bring your cuppa and join us.   

My guest this week is my blue eyed son, Simon McNeny, who graduated from homeschool, the local Community College, and finally Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries. He works with the Okapi at the Dallas Zoo where his job is not that different from the chores he did around the house while he was growing up, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning!  Simon has known he wanted to work with animals since he was very young, he put in at least 4500 volunteer hours at the animal shelter thinking he was getting out of school but he wasn’t really!  By the time he was 14 he was known as the reptile expert and giving presentations at local schools.  Now he gives keeper talks, helps train his animals and has just returned from a week in Florida where he did a workshop learning how to train birds at the Steve Martin Natural Encounters Ranch. You’ll want to learn how positive reinforcement works not only with animals but with children and adults too!  Join us this Friday for a fascinating chat.

Mike Donnelly, from the Home School Legal Defense Association, returns to my show this week with more news and wisdom about homeschooling in America and Europe.  When he’s not talking to me Mike serves as Staff Attorney and Director of International Relations for Member Affairs and is Adjunct Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College, in Virginia.  His work at HSLDA is to defend both the American and International right to choose how we educate our children.  Mike and his wife teach their seven children at home and he is a frequent speaker and writer on many home school related topics some of which he has shared with us over the years on my show.  Today we are going to talk about the impact governments are having on homeschooling and how they are threatening our God given rights as parents. Bring your favourite beverage over to your computer and tune in to my show this Friday to listen as Mike encourages us.       

I have a fascinating guest this week, Robert Velarde, homeschooling father of four, curriculum creator with Sonlight and philosopher.  Robert received his Master of Arts degree from Southern Evangelical Seminary and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Denver Seminary.  He has written, The Wisdom of Pixar, Conversations with C.S. Lewis, and The Heart of Narnia and most recently co-authored, with Sonlight founder Sarita Holzmann, a new high school curriculum called, What Good is Christianity?  Robert, like many homeschooling dads, helps his wife in the education of his offspring by focusing on the moving and performing arts portions of their curriculum and I am certain they love the fact that he shares their unbounded enthusiasm for all films Pixar.  Robert has very cleverly turned this labour of love into an exercise in the reconciliation between a Christian’s lifestyle and the world in which he finds himself today.  It won’t take you many moments to discover that Robert is a vibrant, interesting man on fire for the Lord, so why not join us on Friday for a cup of tea and a chat?  

This week I’m talking to my blue eyed cowboy who has agreed to join us for a cuppa.  Larry McNeny shared the homescholing years with me whenever he wasn’t out on the road as a Tour Manager for any number of impressive bands.  His glamourous life got the children’s interest a whole lot quicker than anything I was trying to do with them!  “Did Ozzy really bite the head off a bat?” is a must know for young, impressionable teens and my cowboy spent many a happy hour regaling them with wild and exciting stories from his life.  Today though we’re not going to be talking about his job, we’ve done that in a previous show called, Rock and Roll Savvy.  What are we going to be talking about?  Love of course!  How we met and his secret to a long and successful marriage so snatch some kisses and tune in this Friday for a special Valentine’s show!

Come and meet Barbara Allisen a life long kindergartener who loves to play with puzzles and blocks, build with lego and make crafts, shape play-dough and read Big Books all day long.   Affectionately known as Mrs. A. she carries the memories of more than 1,000 children’s school beginnings in her heart. Barbara’s kindergarten and preschool experience includes inner city, private, big new & very small old schools both public and independent.   Barbara believes that although children make up 20% of the population they are 100% of the future and being ready for Kindergarten is the key.  She has a kindergarten readiness website and is the author of the book, 123 Kindergarten:  Everything your child Needs to Learn Before Kindergarten.  Tune in and join our conversation this Friday and learn how to target learning skills at home while still having fun with your tot.  

My guest this week first came to my attention as I was prowling around my biggest fan’s website.  We have a mutual friend, thanks Tina for the intro!  I am thrilled to welcome Rebecca Kochenderfer to my show.  Rebecca is the Senior Editor for Homeschool.com. hailed as the #1 homeschooling site on the Internet by yahoo, google, and Forbes Magazine, with over 2 million visitors a year. Rebecca is the co-author of, Homeschooling for Success:  How Parents Can Create a Superior Education For Their Child and more recently, Homeschooling and Loving It a book that will take its reader step by step through the how to’s of teaching at home from beginning to end.   Rebecca educated her three children at home and loved every minute of it!  Join me on Friday, at the usual time, to be inspired no matter where you are on your homeschooling journey.

Luke Holzmann is the son of John and Sarita Holzmann, founders of Sonlight Curriculum, and my guest this week!  He was homeschooled through 8^th grade, went to public high school and then attended Biola University on swimming and academic scholarships where he studied Motion Picture Production.  Today, he works at Sonlight, promoting homeschooling as an excellent option, if not a fully comprehensive education experience.  He writes captivating blogs that are thought provoking with links that may take you to places where angels fear to tread.  He is working on his media production mentoring website: Production-Now.com, which he hopes will lure homeschoolers who love film.  He describes himself as a writer, film-maker, empty nester, so join me on Friday for a cuppa and a natter with this interesting young man.  

Laura Grace Weldon is a poet whose poems have been published, but not the ones she likes!  She is an author, her new book, Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything, tells of the curative value of connecting more deeply with nature and letting go.  She is an artist, a messy one at that, a tincture and meal concoctor both skills demanding courage and a degree of risk from their recipients.  She has deadlines but would rather hide in books or watch foreign films than meet them.  Laura admits that complete self-reliance is happily not her goal and farm dwelling allows her to sing to bees, feed cows, preach about hope, acknowledge the holiness of all things and find peace, sometimes.  With her husband and four homeschooled children they raise plants, animals and occasionally Caine in their simple partnership with the natural world.  Her socks have holes in them, the window moulding is unfinished, there are muddy footprints by the door, but none of that matters, she and her family are together exploring ways to be themselves using ancient wisdom.  Come and meet this lovely lady on Friday, bring a cuppa and prepare to laugh while we talk about her book, her life and how to almost make a living on a farm with relentless doses of optimism! 

My guest this week is a little different from the norm.  I thought that the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Iraq, just in time for Christmas, was a subject that potentially affects everyone in our nation so I invited my friend Sandra Beck to join me today.  Sandra hosts two Shows here on Toginet Radio: Military Mom Talk Radio and Motherhood Talk Radio.  She is an active contributor and participant in many charities and strives to make the world a better place for today’s and our future’s children. Near to her heart are Toys for Tots, World of Children, Children Uniting Nations, Operation Gratitude which provides American civilians a way to express their respect and appreciation to the men and women of the U.S. Military, by sending care packages addressed to individual soldiers and Harvesting Happiness for Heroes.  Sandra is an author, coach, speaker, entrepreneur and philanthropist and, most importantly, the mother of two young boys who keep her on her toes.  She was born in a small town outside Buffalo, New York, and attended Northwestern University where she earned both her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and her Master’s Degree in Advertising.   Join me on Friday and find out how the lives of thousands of military families are changing, and what we can do to support our troops and all involved who risk their lives for our freedoms.

For my first show of the New Year I am delighted to be talking to my dear friend Gretchen Roe, community liaison for the Calvert School.  We are going to be unveiling a new joint venture Calvert is involved in with the Jemicy School for children with reading difficulties.  Gretchen is also going to be sharing with us the good news of her husband’s new job and how she and her family rose to the challenge and uncertainty of unemployment.   Gretchen’s job has her traveling around America to talk at numerous conferences about the Calvert Curriculum and how homeschooling is not purely school at home.  She will re-assure those of us who are a little behind in curriculum selection that Calvert can be started successfully at any time of the year.  With her informative blogs on the Calvert website and her creative webinars, which always have something new to offer, she is there to support you along your homeschooling journey.  Join us for a cup of tea and a slice of apple pie and cream this Friday and listen in to our little natter about new ventures and a tried and tested curriculum.

For the last show of the year I have invited three of my friends to help us navigate the New Year and the twelve months it holds without setting too many goals.  They will give us their top tips on choosing what to add or take away from our lives and urge us to be kind to ourselves.  Ally is host of This Little Parent Stayed Home where she keeps her listeners uplifted and motivated each week on Fridays at 5pm CT.  Sandy hosts Heartfilled Holidays a weekly Toginet show airing on Mondays at 1pm CT, about how we can make holidays and festivities an enhancement to our lives.  Dr. Ann is a licensed psychologist, yoga teacher and meditation guide, as you can probably guess her ethos is all about mindfulness and slowing down which she blogs about weekly on her website.  Bring a seasonal drink and come and unwind this Friday, before the festivities start.  You’ll get some fantastic and doable ideas! 

How much of your traditional holiday activities will show up in your children’s homes when they move on?  This week I am talking to my four children about what they remember, the good and the not so good, about the busiest time of the year in the McNeny household.  The shows, the concerts, the church services, the wreaths, the books, the tree, the cards, the food, the smells, the crèches and losing the baby Jesus!  Come and have fun with me and my children as we reminisce about what the photographs showed as magical times versus what really went on behind the scenes!  Bring a cuppa and prepare to laugh!

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages I bring you the greatest show on earth!  My guest this week is Omar Abderrahman who will share a snippet of his extraordinary childhood with us.  Omar’s non-traditional education will cast out all those doubts about deprivation and lost opportunities some parents feel when they’re having a bad homeschool day!  He is a personal family friend who mentioned, one fine day when he heard we were considering homeschooling, that he was homeschooled!  After running away from the circus Omar spent the next 30 years traveling on the road with some pretty impressive names in the music and entertainment industry.  He formed his own production company in 1994 and manages and produces events, concert tours, corporate shows, TV and film. Join me on Friday to hear some spectacular, breath-taking and extravagant stories from Omar whose uncommon childhood and Calvert Education did absolutely nothing to cramp his style!  This will be a show worth stopping for so grab a cuppa!

Northstar Worldwide offers support and resources to homeschooling families all over the world.  I am happy to welcome one of their directors, Steve Richards, to my show this week.  Steve is a founding member of one of the home education groups in England called Home Service and he has spoken widely on the topic of home education in the United Kingdom and overseas.  Both he and his wife, Lyn, homeschool their children and we are going to be talking about Education in general and in particular in England.  Quoted as saying, “Home educators do not need schools, do not need trained teachers and they do not need the state,” Steve and I are ready to stir it up over a cup of tea on Friday.  So come and listen in!

How do you go from being the head editor of the New York Times' front page website, night edition, managing a team of editors and producers to being the principal facilitator of your homeschool, empowering a cluster of eager young minds?  My guest this week, Laura Noueihed, is going to be answering this question for us when she opens a window onto her life of word mongering and child raising.  Laura has her Master of Science in Journalism, with concentrations in print and new media, from Columbia University where she was a professor.  When she’s not playing with words Laura loves water skiing and scuba diving, experimenting with traditional cooking of various cultures, and is equally happy absorbed in a good novel or browsing a screen full of programming code.  Make yourselves a cuppa and join me this Friday as Laura and I chat about the diversion she took to pour her gifts and talents into the future generation. 

My series on graduated homeschoolers is almost at a close and this week I thought I’d bring you two nearly graduated students who are on the cusp of moving up and away from their homeschools. Callan Roe is an exuberant 17 year old, horse lover with ambitions to pursue an international business degree.  Ready to take the world by storm she is keen to tell you all about herself.  Zoe Cottrell Bentley is a 15 year old scientist with ambitions.  One of them is to work as an exogeologist for NASA.  You’ll have to listen in to hear her others.  She has her own web site and has conducted a few interviews herself.  She is also the co-author of a YA novel entitled, Fractured Fate.   Join us on Friday for a different view of the future through young and intelligent eyes.     

Jonathan & Linnea Lewis are my guests today.  They are newly weds and on fire to talk about what happened to them after the work at the kitchen table was done.  As a couple they have an unusual combination of experience in the area of higher education and the work force.  Linnea used Accelerated Distance Learning to earn a BA in 18 months for a fraction of the normal cost.  She then went on to study for and sit her paralegal certification exams, all from the comfort of her own home with the help of her trusty computer.   She does freelance graphic design from a home office and for something completely different, she has also taught piano.  Jonathan launched into entrepreneurial endeavors very quickly after finishing high school skipping all forms of higher education completely.  He helped start Home School Enrichment Magazine, a national Christian homeschooling magazine in America, about to enter its 10th year of publication.  They are a feisty couple who are prepared to discuss the diversity of options open to non college bound graduates.  They are living proof that homeschoolers don't have to follow a specific path after high school just because everyone else is doing it.  Their message in a nutshell?  Carry on being different.  Join us on Friday with an open mind and a warm heart and welcome this couple into your homes for an hour.

Ever wonder how homeschoolers feel about their lot in life once they get to college or join the workforce? Laura Lee Ellis and Joshua Williams, both lifelong homeschoolers, will be talking to me this week about how home-educating families can prepare their students for college, adulthood and beyond.  Laura will tell why she feels homeschooling uniquely prepared her for her earthly journey.  In her blog, Life as a Rough Draft, she offers tips on how to take home education to the next level and thrive. Joshua will be talking to us from Italy where he is continuing his degree as a primary age teacher.  Together they will be extolling the important roles their parents played in their lives and how they, as individuals, stand out from the crowd in a positive way.  Pour yourselves some tea, dunk a few chocolate biscuits and listen on Friday to a lively and encouraging discussion with two outstanding lifelong homeschoolers.

Highland dancing and horse riding were two of the subjects Jenni Hodgman took at her Australian homeschool and after graduation, instead of going to University, she took a gap year or three to discover the world and unravel her dream.  She has danced with OzScot Australia in Edinburgh, Oman and Sydney.  She and a friend backpacked through Europe.  In Alberta, Canada, she was introduced to a top Western horse trainer, who offered her a job for the summer.  Her family took a very unstructured approach to homeschooling which rubbed off on this young lady who, after several gap years decided to return to Australia to get educated.  Today she is working in a pub and studying a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University.  Jenni is following her homeschooled principles of studying what she enjoys.  Join us this Friday and hear how she has taken her un-schooling experience and ridden and danced her way around the world!  You’ll be captivated by this bright young woman.

My guest this week is a Pakistani born British resident who, with his Scottish wife, homeschools their two children.  During this hour we will find out how cultural dynamics have helped cement their family into a successfully homogenous unit.  Imran Shah, a child protection social worker, public speaker and outspoken objector to the last labour Government’s attempts at further regulating home education in Britain, will be talking to me about the Hedders movement in the U.K.  While his children were still young he researched child development, attachment and the history of education in Britain and turned to his wife one day with the suggestion that they never send their children to school and entrust them to strangers. Join us on Friday for an interesting look at autonomous education in my motherland and learn how all kinds of differences are overcome in the Shah household for the sake of the family.    

Eli Gerzon returns as my guest this week having been one of the first visitors to my show back in 2010.  He is a self motivated young man who left school at fifteen when he discovered an alternative way to educate himself.  He is in good company with Richard Branson, Michael Dell and the late Steve Jobs all of whom left school or college to pursue their own dreams.  He took courses in anthropology and linguistics from Harvard before allowing his love for travel to blossom into his own business called World School Travel Tours.  He takes homeschooling teenagers on journeys to Europe and Japan where they can learn so much more without having to crack a text book.  We are going to talk about the safety of the soul, the meaning of education and how we can achieve it outside the institution.  So tune in and be treated to an hour of philosophical thinking, this Friday with Eli Gerzon.     

Are you on the Mama Bus?  Do you want to be?  Are you giving your children an uncommon childhood?  Do you know what a third culture child is?   Are you part of the Edventure Project?  If any of your answers to these questions are, “you what?” then you’ll want to hear the conversation with my guest this week where I will be dipping my toes into the Atlantic and waggling my fingers in the Pacific with Jennifer Miller, bus driver extraordinaire.  Jennifer is passing on her legacy of an uncommon childhood to her four children and everyone else in the world eager to jump on her Mamabus.  Jennifer and her husband, have spent the last four years in uninterrupted travel choosing to invest most of their time and money in memories that keep, instead of cars, clothes, knick knacks and noisy toys that rust or gather dust.  Jennifer and her lifestyle will razzle and dazzle you and you’ll want to join her adventure, I promise!  She and a bus load of eleven children, ranging in age from 2-15 are on the road as we speak homeschooling their way across America without television, video games, internet or fast food!  Come and catch them while you can, this Friday, bring your tea and a home made goody and let’s travel.

I am delighted to welcome Shannah Godfrey back to my show this week.  The last time we spoke we heard what she had to say about reading, articulation, and teaching myths before we quickly ran out of time.  Today we are going to be talking about good parenting practices, mistakes we make when teaching reading, self esteem and whether it is reasonable to expect your child to have left home by the time he or she turns thirty.  Shannah was a gifted child herself and she will tell us why she could wait to go to college.  She is a strong advocate for direct instruction but does not believe in pushing a child until he or she is ready.  Join me and this fascinating educator, who invented the Godfrey Method, a phonics reading programme that has proven children don’t have to be rocket scientists in order to master reading.  We will talk about her life and how she succeeds in a man’s world and homeschools her 14 children!  You may need something stronger than tea to get you through this, add a biscuit or two and breathe deeply before tuning in this Friday.

My guest this week is the author of a new book, School is Where the Home Is: 180 Devotions for Parents. Her collection of anecdotal devotionals offers practical helps and biblical truths for fellow home schooling parents.   Anita Mellott was born in India and grew up devouring books and mangoes.  Prior to moving to the United States, she headed the Department of Journalism at Mt. Carmel College, Bangalore, India.  For thirteen years, she worked as a writer/editor with Habitat for Humanity International.  Anita is currently in her eighth year as a home educator and has first-hand experience with the ups and downs, the joys and challenges of the homeschooling life. Join us this Friday for a sampling of Anita’s unique brand of encouragement and spiritual enrichment.

Debra Bell used to be a public school teacher until she discovered John Holt!  She went on to homechool her four children for eighteen years and they all grew up, went to college and got jobs!  This week she is taking time out from her busy schedule to join me and talk about teen homeschoolers and the digital age.  Debra speaks at the Apologia Live Retreats where she encourages homeschooling Mums.  Since retiring from teaching at home she has been working towards her PhD in educational psychology.  She is the author of those ultimate books, The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling, The Ultimate Guide to Homechooling Teens and most recently, The Ultimate Planning System from Apologia.  She is involved in her local homeschool community and loves to share her expertise at conferences and seminars.  Come and bask in Debra’s warmth and candor as she chats to me this Friday about college at home, equivalency tests and distance learning.  

This week I am extending a warm welcome back to a regular guest on my show, Mike Donnelly, from the Home School Legal Defense Association, where he serves as staff attorney and director of International relations. Mike and his hard working colleagues at HSLDA defend both the American and International right to choose how to educate our children.  Mike and his wife home school their seven children and he is a frequent speaker and writer on many home school related topics some of which he has shared with us over the years on my show.  Today we are going to talk about apprenticeships and vocational paths our homeschoolers may choose to follow instead of college, and tied into that we will discuss the military as a career option.  Bring your favourite cuppa this Friday and listen in as Mike encourages us, as always, to be the parents God created us to be and the steps we can take to ensure the blessings and freedoms we have to homeschool now are secured for posterity.  

This week my guest is a multi-tasking, ideas Mum who lets her creative juices flow and overflow onto her children and other people’s children through her work with various local non profits as well as her websites.  Tina Smith lives in Fresno, California, where she is president of The Learning Village Homeschool Resource Centre and a board member of the Discovery Centre, where she spent many years happily working before becoming a Mum.  She is the creator of Mommy Chats a live chat room site for moms to connect with moms and she maintains Central Valley’s best online parenting resource, Fresnofamily.com.  Amazingly she is also the author of a book, “How to Create a High Quality ‘Mommy and Me’ Program,” based on the work she did out of her home for several years when her children were really young.  You’d better have your coffee with you when you join us this Friday, Tina is a whirlwind of a woman so hold on tight! 

I am going to be talking with world traveler, Lisa Shusterman, this week as she returns to the airwaves to continue a conversation we started at the beginning of July.  This time we will talk about how after her return she found she had a different perspective on life.  She will tell us how she packed for a year when most of us struggle with taking too much for a week.  Lisa homeschooled her twin girls while on this adventure and with the help of her husband, achieved something that changed all of their lives forever.  Join us this Friday to learn how she and her family handled being home again after a non traditional year on the road.  Bring a cup of tea and put your life on hold for an hour with Lisa and me.  

My guests this week are Ian McNeny and Shelby Cook, lifelong friends, creative minds and both products of homeschooling throughout most of their lives. They are going to talk to us about life as homeschoolers, the opportunities they were able to take advantage of because they weren’t chained to a school desk and the flexibility it afforded them once they were released from the basement. They both describe themselves as “all round creative guy[s]…” and they are. One pursuing film and post production work, the other a singer/songwriter with a talent for graphic design, they have both soldiered ahead in their respective fields and are well on the way to be successful in the industries their talents lend themselves to.  They have also made several films including a Jedi Dispute Series in which they taught themselves the fine art of roto-scoping over 200,000 lightsaber effects, a James Bond film called Queen of the Canal, filmed on location in both America and England, and many film shorts that have been posted on YouTube.  Growing up they met and spent countless hours volunteering and performing for a combined 40+ plays and musicals with the local theatres.  One of them is my son, and the other has been around longer than Ian had been alive prior to meeting.  Don’t miss this opportunity to listen to the accounts of two reel live homeschoolers’ full and never boring life, this Friday. Plenty of laughs over a cup of tea!

Gretchen Roe, community liaison for Calvert School is returning as my guest this week.  We are going to be talking about her ability to balance the roles of wife, mother and teacher while still having a career.  For example, in addition to talking at numerous conferences this summer about the popular topic of Homeschooling versus School at Home, Gretchen has been up to her eyes in preparations for her eldest son’s wedding!  You will discover how she makes her life work and be encouraged that not every moment is a Kodak moment!  Gretchen’s advice about which direction to take once school is out will help you to steer your charges along a Godly path and discover ways to use their gifts and talents wisely. You won’t want to miss this amazing woman who is the mother of six children ranging in age from 5 to early 20’s.  Come and have a cup of tea with us, and a slice of refrigerator chocolate cake, this Friday and listen in to our little natter about preparing for the future.  

Do you know what a Favicon is?  If your child wanted to be an exogeologist would you be over the moon?  Join me this Friday to hear the answers to these questions and more when I welcome back to my show, Lisa Cottrell Bentley.  Lisa is a writer, editor, publisher and business owner who goes with the flow when it comes to homeschooling and puts her daughters first in her busy life.  Lisa and her family live in the Arizona desert and have published four books in the Wright on Time series about an RV-living, homeschooling family who love being together, have no emotional or physical hang ups and travel America while learning on the road.  Lisa is a radical unschooling Mum whose children really have it together.  Make yourself a pot of tea and join us for an hour this week while we talk about love, life and the pursuit of happiness.