Homeschooling Guest Commentators and Reviewers

JUDY ARON

Judy Aron is a long time Homeschooling Activist. She has been heavily involved in protecting the rights of parents, particularly homeschoolers. She graduated from Rondout Valley High School and went on to attend SUNY New Paltz, where she earned a BA in Economics in 1978 graduating magna cum laude with a dual minor in Business Administration and Computer Science. After graduation she married, and worked for the Travelers Insurance Company as a systems manager in data processing, and after having her second child hung up the corporate suit and stayed home to be a parent full time.

Judy is currently Research Director for National Home Education Legal Defense. She held the position of Vice President of CT Homeschool Network. She is also involved in civic organizations in her home town as well as working to earn her Distinguished Toastmaster designation with Toastmasters International.

Judy is wife to Michael Aron, and mom to 3 wonderful kids who were homeschooled and have now gone on to pursue additional studies while living their lives. David is a graduate of Boston University, Jeff is a graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Rachel is pursuing her college studies at the University of New Haven. Her hobbies include soap making, gardening, cooking, quilting, reading, stained glasswork and some scrap booking. She also loves politics – but sometimes she hates it, too. Judy was a candidate for the CT State legislature in 2006 and is currently still involved in politics and in the Liberty movement. Judy has written numerous articles about homeschooling teens and preparing for college as part of “College Corner” in the CT Homeschool Network monthly newsletter, and she has also written extensively for NHELD. Some of her articles have appeared in Home Education Magazine, Journal of College Admissions, RadioFree West Hartford, online blogs and websites, as well as various newspapers. She has been a guest on several radio and cable TV shows speaking about homeschooling, parental rights, mental health testing and a host of other issues. Judy has her own Cable TV program on West Hartford Cable TV, entitled “What You Should Know” and also authors the weblog, “Consent Of The Governed.”

BETH BALMANNO

Beth Balmanno is book reviewer for Parent at the Helm. She is the President of Minnesota Homeschooler’s Alliance (MHA), her state’s only inclusive homeschool organization, and mom to three spirited home learners. A longtime homeschooling advocate, she divides her time between advocating and supporting homeschoolers throughout the state and spear-heading local activities (co-op classes, 4-H, Girl Scouts) for her children and friends.

She is an avid reader and writer, with articles published in The Grapevine, MHA’s quarterly newsletter, and online as the Homeschool Reporter for Minneapolis’s examiner.com.

When she isn’t planning and coordinating a plethora of homeschool activities, she loves to spend her time traveling – literally – off the beaten path with her kids.

You can contact Beth at bethbalmanno@gmail.com.

Debbie Harbeson, Parent at the Helm In Training

DEBBIE HARBESON

Debbie Harbeson has two children who were homeschooled through high school. She wrote a book, Okay Kids, Time For Bedlam, about her family’s early homeschooling experiences and to her husband and children’s horror has offered it for free online since 2004. You can download a pdf or read the chapters online here.

She has been very active in the Indiana homeschooling community online and is one of the moderators of the IndianaHomeschoolers email list and also serves as a County Contact for the Indiana Home Educators’ Network (IHEN) (Link: http://www.ihen.org/content/support/).

After homeschooling, Debbie worked at a private reading center for 8 years where she tutored students in reading, spelling, comprehension and math and served for 3 years as Admissions Coordinator.

Ready to move on to her next phase of life, one where she did not have to get up every morning and actually put on clothes, Debbie returned home. She now spends her time freelance writing, helping local businesses with email newsletters, designing websites for small businesses and generally driving her husband crazy. You can learn more about her at www.debbieharbeson.com.

Debbie has a blog, Homeschooling: Freedom and Fun for Your Family which is a showcase of short, fun interviews of homeschooling families of all types from all over the United States and the world. If you are reading this and are currently homeschooling or have homeschooled in the past, she wants to know why you haven’t joined in the fun yet. Go to her blog to find the questions and submit your answers today.

BARB KELLY

I’m mom to two children. Natalie, who is twenty-seven and making her way in the world as a writer and artist – and Lachlan, my eight year-old son who is being homeschooled. Becoming a mother again at the age of forty-one was not only a gift, but also a catalyst to re-evaluate my assumptions and challenge my philosophy on the sort of experience I wanted for my son’s formative years. This set me on somewhat of an odyssey in search of explanations for the psychological structure of western consumer society and the templates that have been imposed to guide us in our daily lives.
Since taking the initiative to think outside the box, I have become increasingly passionate about issues of personal autonomy and the relative lack of quality perceived by many in the normal flow of life – despite us enjoying a high standard of living. I find that looking at social relationships in pre-industrial society helps to more clearly define the warping of life that has taken place at the behest of economic imperatives in the modern era.
I live in the southwest of Western Australia, with my son, two cats, and six very attractive chickens. My greatest satisfactions come from watching my son grow up immersed in the real world, following my daughter’s creative endeavors, tending my vegetable patch, and reading and writing.

MARY McCARTHY

Since Mary doesn’t believe in bios, we all have to imagine what she looks like and where she’s been. It will have to suffice to say that she is a longtime advocate for freedom for children, families and homeschoolers to pursue the educational path that best suits their needs and desires.

BECKY RUPP

Becky Rupp

Becky Rupp has a Ph.D. in cell biology and biochemistry. She has published over 200 articles in national magazines on a wide range of topics, and nearly two dozen books, both fiction and non-fiction, for children and adults.

Titles for homeschoolers include The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook (Three Rivers Press, 1999) and Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschooling Curriculum from Preschool through High School (Three Rivers Press, 2000). Among her children’s books are the award-winning Dragon of Lonely Island (Candlewick, 1998), The Waterstone (2002), Return of the Dragon (2005), Journey to the Blue Moon (2006), Sarah Simpson’s Rules for Living (2008), and – coming up this year – Octavia Boone’s Big Questions About Life, the Universe, and Everything.

She is the Resource Editor for Home Education Magazine, a contributing editor for GreenPrints, and an educational consultant to the Vermont Center for the Book, for whom she organizes library-based children’s science programs.

She and her husband homeschooled their three sons, all of whom still love them. And they all turned out just fine.

Resource questions? E-mail Becky at rebeccarupp@gmail.com.

Carol Topp

CAROL TOPP, CPA

Carol Topp, CPA (www.HomeschoolCPA.com) is the author of Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out.

She runs a home-based accounting practice specializing in tax preparation, small/micro business accounting, and nonprofit accounting. She is a member of the Ohio Society of CPAs, the National Association of Tax Professionals and the Society of Nonprofit Organizations. Carol has served on several nonprofit boards including her church, American Heritage Girls, Inc., PregnancyCare Cincinnati and her own homeschool co-op.

Carol is a member of the Ohio Society of CPAs Speakers Bureau and the Old Schoolhouse Speakers Bureau. She has presented numerous workshops on money management, business start up, taxes, budgeting and homeschooling to variou community, church and homeschool groups. She has also published several magazine articles in The Old Schoolhouse, Home Education, Homeschool Enrichment magazines and the National Association of Tax Professionals TaxPro.

She has also authored several ebooks for homeschool leaders. Her other books include Micro Business for Teenagers and Information in a Nutshell: Business Taxes and Tips for Authors and Publishers and, as contributing author, Home Work: Jugglling Home, Work and School Without Losing Your Balance.

Carol was born and raised in Wisconsin and graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Engineering. She worked ten years for the U.S. Navy as a cost analyst before staying home with her two daughters. While being a stay-at-home mom, Carol took accounting classes via distance learning. In 2000 Carol received her CPA license and opened her own practice. She is really a homeschooled CPA.

Carol lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and has two daughters, one in college and one finishing homeschool high school.

TERRI WILLINGHAM

Theresa Willingham is a professional writer with over 25 years experience in journalism, including extensive coverage of education, health and family issues. She is a long time family advocate, supporting parents and children’s rights to direct their own learning, health and well being through her writing and volunteer efforts. Her award winning book, the Food Allergy Field Guide: A Lifestyle Manual for Families (Savory Palate, Inc.) now in its second printing, emphasizes family support and child empowerment in the field of dietary management . She is a contributor to the St. Petersburg Times, in Tampa, and other periodicals where she often writes about individual empowerment issues. Theresa is Vice-President of Learning Is for Everyone, a non-profit organization. She is  a home education veteran, having guided, with her husband, Steven, for the last 17 years, the learning of their three children, two of whom are now in college. Find more about Theresa at tmwillingham.blogspot.com or Learning Is for Everyone.

MICHELE WOLF

Michele Wolf

Michele is the founder of Intellego Unit Studies, a publisher of multisensory core curriculum and unit studies for homeschoolers, alternative education programs, and charter schools.

The road to homeschooling and curriculum development was a natural extension of her earlier career interests.  Upon graduation from law school, Michele worked in state education policy.  After suffering burn out and frustration with the system, she began teaching and designing college and graduate level courses in education policy, ethics and law.  After 10 years as an attorney, associate professor and curriculum designer, her greatest challenge emerged: homeschooling two boys.

Michele holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a Masters of Public Administration from Hamline University, and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline University School of Law.  She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, two sons, and assorted animal friends.  As an adoptive mother and former foster mother, she is active in international and domestic adoption communities.  Hobbies include advocating for children, reading, writing, hiking, blowing up the kitchen with science experiments, and chasing loose hamsters around the living room.  Learn more about Michele’s vision for education at www.intellegounitstudies.com.

The ReviewCrew

DAWN DEL ROSSI

I am a stay at home mom of 5 creative, innovative and explorative kids – Nicholas 10, Alessandra 8, Dominic 7, Carmella 4 and Francesca 2.  Although stay at home mom is a misnomer because we are often at parks, museums, theatre productions, friends’ houses, or any number of excursions. I have a BS in elementary education and psychology and taught in a special needs classroom for several years where I perfected my parenting theories.  Then I had kids and all those theories went flying out the window!  When Nicholas was 7, I discovered the concept of unschooling which sent whatever parenting theories I was still holding onto into a tailspin.  Now I am enjoying the parenting life so much more and working on being more present in the here and now.

AMANDA WERNER

Amanda Werner

Amanda is a wife and homeschooling mother to three children, ages 15, 11, and 10. She has some college education but more importantly, a lifetime of experiences.

Accomplishments? Well, from the day she was born, she started accomplishing things and frankly that list could get pretty long, however, her greatest accomplishments include her hubby and children.

When she is not involved in her childrens homeschooling journey, Amanda enjoys life on her hobby farm where only the animals know just how crazy she can be and guess what? They are not talking.

Visit Amanda over at All American Family where you can find her living out her version of the American dream alongside her family.

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