Many Gifts: Charlotte Mason Education Summit

Donna Goff is the owner and Director at MentoringOurOwn.Com. She is known as the Homeschool Mommy Mentor, helping moms succeed in homeschooling, family, home, and life. 

Donna and her husband, Roger, are parents of seven children and fifteen grandchildren. She began homeschooling in 1983 and is still in the trenches. She earned a Bachelor's of Art Degree in Fine Art & Design, and Master's of Arts Degree in Education.

Donna was first introduced to Charlotte Mason in 1988. She joined Penny Gardner's Charlotte Mason Study Group, in 1994. From 1995-2015, Donna hosted her own Charlotte Mason study group. From 2002-2015, Donna founded and led a private Charlotte Mason a cyber-cottage school. She is also the creator of the Power of an Hour: Gateway to a Classical Education curriculum and other Charlotte Mason inspired homeschooling resources. 

Donna loves to be a wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt. She also loves blogging, presenting, learning, organizing mom schools, mentoring homeschool moms, gardening, engaging in the lost arts, singing, creating stained glass murals, micro sand-carving in glass, frugality, provident living, writing poetry, nature studies, family history, and sharing. 

Since 1995, Donna has been presenting and keynoting at Charlotte Mason and Homeschooling conferences in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Nebraska, Virginia, and online. She created the Mentoring Our Own Yahoo Group in 2002. Donna has authored Charlotte Mason articles, a chapter in The Charlotte Mason Study Guide, by Penny Gardner, and also is a co-author of the Homeschooling Basics Series, with her daughter Julia Groves. In 2009, Donna and her daughters Julia Groves and Jennifer Walton co-founded Princess Academies/ Royal Academe and finally Mentoring Our Own.

Connect with Donna:

Website:  https://mentoringourown.com/

Audrey Rindlisbacher is a mother of 6 who helps others think deeply in order to uncover truth and build their faith. Her path has led her through hundreds of the greatest works ever written, onto stages all over the country and into dozens of classrooms where she has shared the tools for principle-centered lifelong learning and life mission. Audrey has a classical liberal arts Bachelor's Degree and a Master's of Arts in Education. 

Connect with Audrey:

Website:  https://themissiondrivenmom.com/

Lanaya Gore has written Laying Down the Rails for Children as well as other books that help homeschool families easily implement the Charlotte Mason method. Her latest book, Charlotte Mason: The Teacher Who Revealed Worlds of Wonder, is a picture book biography telling the life of Charlotte Mason. She loves hot herbal teas, cozy books, hiking in the woods, and blogging about her family. Lanaya and her husband live in rural Missouri and are in the midst of homeschooling their four children.

Connect with Lanaya:

On Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/lanaya.gore

Penny Gardner has 20 years of experience teaching her children at home. She started homeschooling in 1989 and became a Charlotte Mason enthusiast in 1994 when her experiments with incorporating Miss Mason’s ideas bore incredible fruits.

Penny has presented dozens of day-long Charlotte Mason seminars across the country. She recently made this into a downloadable multimedia seminar. She is author of The Charlotte Mason Study Guide; Italics, Beautiful Handwriting for Children; and the Nine-Note Recorder Method, and other recorder music books in the series. These affordable materials are available at pennygardner.com and ninenote.com

 Penny is mother to six children, ages 23-38, and “Nana” to 10 children. She has degrees in Elementary Education and Music Education, with experience in the classroom as well as in the home setting. Penny is a fellow of the Central Utah Writing Project and has taught nature journaling with a focus on writing to elementary children attending summer writing camps at a local university for ten years prior to Covid.

Connect with Penny:

Website:  https://pennygardner.com/             

I found Charlotte Mason later in my homeschool journey. When I did, I found that many of the principles that I learned in my years of research and experience homeschooling and running Knox Academy -the hybrid school and homeschool support program I co-founded- had already been observed and taught by Charlotte Mason over 100 years before!

Like Charlotte Mason, I believe natural learning is a simpler, more effective way to homeschool. You can lean on my experience and I can show you how to transform your home learning to be more effective for your child TODAY!

Connect with Sidra:

Website:  https://knoxacademyofmaking.org/

Christine has been homeschooling for twelve years and is the author of A Year of Poetry Tea Time series, Relaxed Homeschooling, and the founder of the International Homeschooling Poetry Contest. She is on a mission to share with everyone the importance of poetry in a child's education. It expands critical thinking skills, elevates vocabulary and strengthens family bonds. Poetry is also a natural way to spark curiosity and foster a love of learning while exploring areas such as music, art, math, science, history and more. Through poetry your children will become the deep thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.

Connect with Christine:

Website:  https://www.ayearofpoetryteatime.com/

Author and Educator, Karen Skidmore Rackliffe, has seven children and 14 grandchildren. She began her homeschool adventure in 1986 researching early childhood education and trying out different practical applications. By 1996 she had settled on the Charlotte Mason method of education. She wrote and published, "Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals" in 1998. Speaking engagements followed. She also taught in homeschool, charter schools and private settings. She served in Salt Lake Home Educators for many years. She was a founder of the UTVA charter school and served as the chairwoman of the board, creating new options for students in Utah. More recently she has turned to teaching private watercolor classes for children and oil classes for adults. Charlotte Mason's ideas have been embedded through all.

Rachel DeMille is the co-creator of TJEd, co-author of Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning and the award-winning educational resource, This Week in History, and cast member of the popular Mentoring in the Classics series. She is an accomplished musician, writer, literary editor, public speaker, consultant and momschool organizer; a musician, a foodie, a beach blonde, a poet, a polyglot and a birth coach. Wife to Oliver, mother of 8 and counting (with grandkid count at 10 plus 1 more in the making as of this writing), Rachel is on a mission to heal families and inspire others to detect, refine and unleash their genius. Currently building a mini-farm and a multi-generational family school for her tribe’s cohort of life-long learners.

Connect with Rachel:

Website: https://tjed.org/

Jessica Smith was homeschooled K-12, with a few classes at public high school. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Family Studies and Human Development. In 2011. she married her high school sweetheart and now homeschools their three boys at home. She is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE-P) and specializes in home education and how it affects family processes. She began Simple Wonders to support parents in their role as teachers and make the timeless philosophy and methods of Charlotte Mason more approachable for modern-day parents.

Connect with Jessica:

Website:  www.simplewonders.org

Dianne Kelley is known as the “unconventional speaker”, has authored eight homeschool programs and books, and has worked with thousands of homeschoolers and hundreds of homeschool group leaders for nearly 20 years. She has participated in many issues which affect the homeschool community as a whole, and is candid when talking about hot topics, overcoming roadblocks in homeschooling, and out-of-the-box techniques for teaching in more exciting ways.  

While she serves families with children of all ages, Dianne particularly specializes in working with middle to high school level groups to help prepare for college entry and is familiar with the latest developments affecting future college students, including how to leverage early college. In 2004, she founded a national support organization, Home Education Council of America, where for many years, she led online seminars and webinars in a live, innovative setting. Dianne now serves the homeschool community from her personal site, TheSimpleScholar.com

While she serves families with children of all ages, Dianne particularly specializes in working with middle to high school level groups to help prepare for college entry and is familiar with the latest developments affecting future college students, including how to leverage early college. In 2004, she founded a national support organization, Home Education Council of America, where for many years, she led online seminars and webinars in a live, innovative setting. Dianne now serves the homeschool community from her personal site, TheSimpleScholar.com

Connect with Dianne:

Website:  TheSimpleScholar.com