The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
July 20-21, 2007
Science Museum of Virginia
2500 West Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is an award-winning author and speaker with over thirty years of teaching experience from the primary through the doctoral level, and over one million copies of his books in print on issues related to learning and human development. He is the author of thirteen books including the forthcoming The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life (May, 2007), The Best Schools: How Human Development Research Should Inform Educational Practice , Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, In Their Own Way, Awakening Your Child's Natural Genius, 7 Kinds of Smart, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child, ADD/ADHD Alternatives in the Classroom, and Awakening Genius in the Classroom.
His books have been translated into twenty-one languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Danish, and Russian. He has written for Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle (where he received awards from the Educational Press Association, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals), Parenting (where he was a regularly featured columnist for four years), Mothering (where he was a contributing editor), and over thirty other periodicals, journals, and edited books. He has appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, including NBC's "The Today Show," "CBS This Morning," "CNN," the "BBC" and "The Voice of America." Articles featuring his work have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Good Housekeeping, and hundreds of other newspapers and magazines around the country.
Dr. Armstrong has given over 800 keynotes, workshop presentations, and lectures in 42 states and 16 countries in the past nineteen years. His clients have included Sesame Street, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the European Council of International Schools, the Republic of Singapore, and several state departments of education.
Nancy Baker comes to us from Keysville, Virginia where she lives with her husband and six children. She began homeschooling in 1998. Her children are aged 12, 9, 8, 6, 4, & 2. Homeschooling through multiple pregnancies & having a houseful of boys, plus one girl, she has had to use many adaptive techniques to maintain peace and harmony in a very busy life. Nancy considers herself a "seasonal eclectic" homeschooler, using whatever method fits the bill for the particular season of life her family is in, with a slant towards the Charlotte Mason style. She counts her small flock of laying hens among her greatest pleasures.
Way back before kids, Gail Barker earned a Master's in Counseling and worked with Employee Assistance Programs in the Northern Virginia area. Since starting her family in 1990, she has become a La Leche League leader and has written articles for publication in several magazines. Currently, she helps run Renaissance School of the Arts, a homeschool arts program in the Tidewater area, and she works part time at an historic site as a docent and writer, in addition to teaching her four children at home. She lives in a house on the edge of a marsh with her husband and four sons.
Barb Benfante, and her husband Guy, homeschool their 3 boys in Chesapeake. Always a relaxed eclectic homeschooler, this year she has been exploring a different style of homeschooling with her oldest son participating in an academically rigorous high school co-op. She serves on the board of directors of VaHomeschoolers as Secretary and Conference Co- Chair, and also enjoys tracking legislation as part of the Government Affairs Committee.
Barefoot Puppet Theatre brings to life world folktales, classic tales (with a twist!), and adaptations of true stories for children and family audiences. The company has been performing shows since 1997, when Heidi Rugg began touring her original shows. These award-winning performances feature beautiful puppets, imaginative and well-researched scripts, unique staging, original music, and lots of audience participation. This Richmond-based company has thrilled audiences at The Smithsonian Discovery Theater, Boston's Puppet Showplace Theater, the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and hundreds of schools and libraries. In 2005, Barefoot Puppets was thrilled to receive an UNIMA-Citation of Excellence, the highest achievement in North American puppetry. Heidi now works with her husband, Sam, who manages the technical aspects of the performances and does the driving. The Ruggs homeschool (often road-school!) and travel with their two children as they tour their puppet shows up and down the East Coast. To make their lives run a bit more smoothly, Sam and Heidi are working on converting a large motorcoach into a motorhome.
Eddie Barrett is a Virginia native and product of the public school system. He and his wife, Silvia, have been homeschooling their two children for the last 5 years. His oldest child is enrolled in the public school system. When first asked if he thought homeschooling would be a good choice for their kids, he had no hesitations. Eddie has worked a wide variety of jobs, learning everywhere he went, since his first paper route–no kidding!–at age 12. Jobs he held before graduating include cutting grass, life guarding, being a short-order cook, working in automotive parts retail, and as an electrician's helper. After graduation, Eddie worked as a journeyman electrician for over 10 years, was an independent builder, and then a factory electrician, before spending 7 years as the project manager and grounds maintenance director for a local developer. He has been a real estate appraiser for the past 6 years. Eddie's interests include computers, hunting, fishing, hiking, and auto restoration (Fiats' being his first love, and tying nicely into his wife's Italian background).
Silvia Barrett and her husband, Eddie, have been homeschooling their two children from the beginning, but officially for 5 years. In high school, she traveled to both Germany and the former USSR with her foreign language classes. A native New Yorker, Silvia's fortuitous family move to Virginia set her on the road to studying at James Madison University, where she earned a double major in Russian Language and Literature, and Anthropology, and a minor in Russian-area studies. She then spent 6 months living and traveling in Italy, her mother's native country, in order to learn the language and culture first-hand. Her strong desire to return to Italy was kept alive for 13 years, when she was able to share her love for all things Italian with her husband and children during a month-long vacation there. Silvia has been a board member of the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers since 2004, and has served as treasurer during this time. She started and leads a large and successful local homeschool support network called AlbemarleHomeschoolers, and started and runs a homeschoolers' 4-H group. When not working on homeschooling projects or issues, she enjoys reading, gardening, taekwondo, raising chickens, and too many other things to list here–eclectic is her middle name!
MB Chen studied law and economics in George Washington University in the 1980's. He created Forte International Exchange Association fifteen years ago. Forte has been deeply involved in international cultural exchange activities, which MB Chen is passionate about. Forte has invited thousands of people, including exchange students, to visit America. The mission is to promote American culture to the world, to increase the awareness of this great country and people. At the same time, American host families and their children have chances to learn more about the people and cultures of other countries. Forte has also organized trips for several hundred American students to visit China during September each year for Shanghai Festival. This three-day event presents world cultural experiences from over 30 countries. The students conduct a marching band performance at the festival and take part in numerous cultural immersion events.
Stephanie Elms is the VaHomeschoolers Website Administrator and a VaHomeschoolers Board member. Living in Annandale, she has enjoyed homeschooling her two boys for 5 years and loves the freedom that it brings. As co-moderator of the state-wide email list VaEclecticHS and various local and national lists, she spends a large part of her free time writing and helping new homeschoolers get started. Between email lists and her other love, blogging she may never shut up. You can read her musings on her personal blog, Throwing Marshmallows or on the homeschooling blog Life Without School where she is a featured author.
Jeanne Faulconer and husband Rick homeschool their 17 and 9 year old sons in southern Virginia, where Jeanne is starting South Hill Area Homeschoolers support network. They recently helped their 19 year old son cap his homeschooling years by assisting him in arranging a six-month international study in Ambato, Ecuador. Previously, they hosted an international exchange student for a year. A long-time La Leche League leader, Jeanne enjoys writing and speaking about parenting and home education with a special emphasis on relationships and communication. Jeanne is a columnist for the VaHomeschoolers Newsletter and writes for Home Education Magazine's News and Commentary Blog.
Kevin Faulconer, 19, spent six months in Ecuador during the past year; living with a South American family and learning Spanish by immersion. While there, he attended high school at Conservatorio de Musica, and volunteered as an English teacher at both a high school and an elementary school. Kevin's family hosted an international exchange student from South America who shared his room for a year . He says that living internationally is an excellent way to "learn about other cultures." Kevin learned at home after completing the fourth grade in public school.
Cindy Gaddis is learning at the feet of her 7 always-homeschooled children, ages 6-20, with whom she has been living and learning since 1992, along with her husband Weston. As a corporate gypsy, Cindy has worked with homeschooling laws in four states, but since 2000, her family is now settling in to make North Carolina their permanent home. Her work has been published in Home Education Magazine and Growing Without Schooling. Cindy has served in leadership roles for homeschooling groups and autism groups, as well as appearing in newspaper, radio and television. She has been moderating an e-mail list for families homeschooling their children with autism since 1999, and another e-mail list for families homeschooling their right-brained learners since 2005. Cindy continues her extrovert ways by sharing her experiences and perspective as a featured author at the Life Without School blog as well as at her own homeschool journal blog, Applestars.
Sue Ivins, a former VaHomeschoolers (then VHEA) board member, homeschooled her youngest two children–twins, now 22–from fifth grade through high school. The twins successfully navigated the college application process, and adapted well to undergraduate studies. Curt earned his BA from Virginia Military Institute in 2006, and is now serving as a 2LT in the US Army; Tammy is a 2007 graduate of Davidson College, and has been awarded a two year fellowship from the college. These days, Sue and husband Charlie live on their Amherst County horse farm, looking forward to visiting with their four grown children, and three grandchildren.
Tamara Ivins received her B.A. from Davidson College, NC in May 2007 with dual majors in Theatre and Classics. She currently holds a two year full-time fellowship in the Davidson College Archives Department. She and her twin brother were homeschooled beginning in the 5th grade.
Russell D. Jamison, Ph.D., is the dean of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering and holds dual faculty appointments in the departments of biomedical engineering and chemical and life science engineering. He came to VCU from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign where he was a founding member of the bioengineering department and director of the Hoeft Technology and Management Program. Dr. Jamison was formerly associate professor of mechanical engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy and served as senior vice president for research and development at Smith & Nephew Orthopedics, based in Memphis, Tenn. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Jamison comes to the school as it joins with the VCU School of Business in an innovative partnership combining the two disciplines in a new state of the art facility opening for classes in spring 2007. His vision for the School of Engineering, recognized for its distinctive familial atmosphere, is to build a national reputation for excellence by offering students unique programs that give them singular opportunities to succeed after graduation.
Dena Jensen lives in Fairfax, Virginia where her seven year old son takes her by the hand and leads her down paths that she never would have traveled without him. She has a master's degree in Education and taught second grade for four years in the public schools. Her passions include yoga and homeschooling.
Celeste Land of Vienna, Virginia is a member of VaHomeschoolers' Board of Directors and chairs its Government Affairs Committee. She has lobbied on behalf of homeschooling interests at the state and federal level. A longtime contributor to the VaHomeschoolers Newsletter, Celeste's work has also been published in Growing Without Schooling, Home Education Magazine, and Homeschooling Horizons. Her children, Leila (15) and Adam (11), have always homeschooled.
Author Connie Lapallo has homeschooled her four children, ages 11 to 17, since 1997. Her 2006 novel, Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky, is an historically accurate account of the hundred women and children who settled Jamestown in 1609. School Library Journal recommended Dark Enough as one of only two fictional works for Grades 7 and up studying Jamestown. Museums carrying her book include Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, Colonial Williamsburg, and Shirley Plantation. The Mariners' Museum selected it as April Book-of-the-Month and included Connie in the Grand Opening of its USS Monitor Center. Henricus invited her to be part of the Godspeed's appearance in May. Connie also frequently speaks in colonial costume at libraries, schools, colleges, book clubs, conferences, and historic societies, including the Texas Society DAR Annual Conference in Houston, the Virginia Educational Media Association's Evening Gala at Jamestown, and John Tyler Community College's course "The Jamestown Experience." She was recently interviewed for a documentary about Jamestown's women. Connie is a long-time leader of homeschool writing groups and has been support group leader and newsletter and directory editor for Hanover Homeschoolers. She holds a BS in Finance from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Georgia.
Christi Macomber and her husband Duncan homeschool their three children, ages 9, 6, and 3. Christi sees herself as a facilitator to help her children learn and explore their many and varied interests and talents. She is always seeking to find that elusive balance between everyone's needs, including her own. Christi considers herself very fortunate to live in a homeschool-rich part of the state. She and her family make their home on six acres of woods near Doswell, Virginia, with their dog, three cats, small flock of chickens, and two rogue guinea fowl.
David Mick is the Robert Hill Carter Professor of Marketing at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, where he teaches market research and consumer behavior. His research has focused on communication and meaning in consumer behavior, in such areas as gift-giving, technological products, materialism, and wise consumption. He has been invited to conduct research seminars at universities worldwide, including Oxford, the London Business School, Trinity (Dublin), Erasmus (Netherlands), the Stockholm School of Economics, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, among others. Professor Mick is a Fellow in the Society for Consumer Psychology, former Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research (1999-2003), and recent President of the Association for Consumer Research (2005). In this latter role he has spearheaded a movement called Transformative Consumer Research, which encourages and facilitates scholarly inquiry to improve quality of life for all beings influenced by worldwide consumption activities and trends. He is the husband of Cindy Mick, and dad to two homeschooled boys, Owen (11) and Neal (8).
Parrish Mort has homeschooled her two children (12 and 15) all their lives. They spend much of their days "experiencing life" and pursuing the children's talents and passions. Parrish has discovered that the "tween" years offer additional opportunity for great discovery and excitement in learning about themselves, new interests, and their relationships with friends and family. She has served as a VaHomeschoolers lobbyist and Government Affairs Committee member for the past eight years and is currently President of The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers. She is also a facilitator for the Hanover Homeschoolers support group.
Currently enjoying her first term on the VaHomeschoolers' Board of Directors, Susan Parkhurst and her husband Chris eclectically unschool themselves alongside their two children in beautiful Southwest Virginia. Susan reports that her biggest challenge is making time to pursue an ever-growing variety of interests and hobbies–many of which she first discovered while browsing online or watching documentaries. With a household of autodidacts naturally geared towards multi-media learning, she's found that computers, video games, and DVDs aren't luxuries but essential tools that help develop skills and knowledge.
Teresa Parr has two children. She began homeschooling five years ago. She currently works part-time as a consultant to businesses that work with children. Prior to having children, she worked with children and parents in a variety of settings, from hospitals, to outpatient clinics and schools. She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a specialization in child psychology.
Shay Seaborne has homeschooled her children in Virginia since 1995. She founded the VaEclecticHS homeschool discussion lists, and the new national list modeled after VaEclectic, called HS-Eclectic-Net. She also spearheaded the grassroots coalition that succeeded in eliminating the onerous "approval before removal" clause from Prince William county's homeschool regulation and won a fair partial-enrollment policy. Shay has served as a VaHomeschoolers volunteer for 9 years, and was first elected to the Board of Directors in 2002. Shay loves protecting and promoting homeschooling at the grassroots level and living and learning with her 17- and 14-year-old daughters, who are turning out alright despite having been raised well outside the mainstream.
Debra Dance Schmid taught Montessori pre-school in Charlottesville and Richmond for over a decade. She is the mother of 2 boys, Ian–16 and Erich–6, both of whom have attended school as well as homeschooled. Ian is currently enrolled in Henrico County Public School's Specialty Center for Math and Science. Erich is enjoying his new journey through homeschool after attending Montessori pre-school.
William Shaw has been married for 37 years (a teenage marriage, it won't last) to Margaret Shaw. He holds a BS from George Washington University. (where he studied anumalcules under Prof. Leeuwenhoek) and is a former (two long years) public school teacher. Will is employed by the University of Virginia (something to do with physical plant), and is father of four: Leah, 28, Benjamin, 26, Elizabeth, 23, and Mary Anna, 19. Cofounder and past president of VaHomeschoolers (then Virginia Home Education Association), he also worked as a homeschool lobbyist to the Virginia General Assembly from 1988-2002. His hobby is native plants, and he is a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates.
Ann Cameron Siegal is a freelance writer and photographer for The Washington Post and has been homeschooling her daughter for eight years. Always looking for unique approaches to life's challenges, Ann and her 16-year-old daughter find that meshing homeschooling with high school is not nearly as daunting as it first seemed. In fact, it's quite rewarding!
Jean Weller has homeschooled Emily since she was in kindergarten and now they are facing Driver's Ed together! She has been involved in co-ops of various kinds during most of that time, learning and teaching. Outside of homeschooling, she works part-time with the Virginia Department of Education on projects relating to educational reform. She has a B.A. in History/American Studies and an M.A. in Anthropology.
Laureen White begins her 16th year of homeschooling this fall. Eight children, two grandchildren, 25 years of marriage and the occasional nap add up to volumes of homeschooling experiences and lessons learned. So far, transcripts she has prepared have satisfied a private four-year college, the National Merit Scholarship Board, and the U.S. Army. Only 18 years to go.
Emily Wilson is a 21 year old homeschool grad who is attending the School of Nursing at University of Virginia after transferring from Piedmont Virginia Community College. She is interested in becoming a hospice nurse, working in a clinic... or maybe a refugee camp somewhere. She is spending the summer working in an oncology unit at a community hospital in Richmond. She enjoys travel, hiking, cooking and talking to interesting people. She studied Spanish in Honduras for two months and has visited a half dozen other countries.
Homeschooling - A Passport To Learning |
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