Friends of GHEX

Gerald Huebner lives in Manitoba, Canada and is a charter member of the GHEC board. Gerald and wife Bev home educated their two now adult children through all fourteen great education years to graduation and now are enjoying four homeschooled grandchildren. Gerald and Bev have spent over 30 years in leadership of home education organizations, and Gerald serves as the board chair of HSLDA Canada and the Canadian Centre for Home Education. Gerald worked for over 37 years in senior management of the agriculture department with the provincial government in the province of Manitoba. Gerald and Bev have shared their journey and experience with parents, government officials and others in over 12 countries around the world.

Debra Bell, Ph.D., is the best-selling author of the award-winning The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling, The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens, and The Ultimate Planners for moms, teens, and students. Her articles on homeschooling have been widely published. She has been a keynote and featured speaker at numerous international and national venues for more than 20 years. During her homeschooling years, Debra founded three homeschool co-ops which continue today. A pioneer in online education, today she is executive director and lead teacher for Aim Academy, which provides online college prep and AP® courses for 7th-12th graders both stateside and abroad. Debra holds a Bachelor of Science in communications education and a master’s degree in English. After homeschooling, she completed a Ph.D. in educational psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. A former high school and college English teacher, Debra and her husband Kermit home educated their four kids K-12.

Kevin and his wife, Wendi, became homeschooling parents in 2008, when their oldest child was in first grade. Now, many years later, they continue to educate all their children at home.

Kevin is a graduate of Wheaton College (IL) and received his J.D. from Seattle University. Prior to joining HSLDA, Kevin served on active duty in the US Air Force for 10 years as a Judge Advocate, allowing he and Wendi to homeschool in three different countries and five states. Kevin has served three years in the Alaska Air National Guard and continues his service as a drill-status Guardsman.

As Staff Attorney, Kevin serves as the primary contact for members in 12 states. He is passionate about the freedom to homeschool and the blessings of being a dad. He also enjoys running, (almost) all things outdoors, and spending time with his family.

Edric is an edu-preneur (education entrepreneur), focused on home education, personal finance, and family life. He is president of Homeschool Global with over 3,100 students across 30 countries. He is also an RFP and former lead anchor of the multi-awarded ANC show “On the Money”, and he is an active member of CCF where they help coach, mentor, and mount events for families. In 2016, he was nominated for the 10 Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award. His new ventures include cacao farming as a social enterprise and completing the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s CAEL (Certificate of Advanced Education Leadership) Program. He is involved in all this as his passion is to help change the world one family at a time.

Barbara West has been married for 36 years to Bruce West. Bruce’s almost 30-year military career has afforded them opportunities to live around the world in more than a dozen US locales and four overseas assignments – Stuttgart and Garmisch, Germany; Manila, Republic of the Philippines; Bucharest, Romania. Prior to this, Barbara lived in the UK for four years. In addition to living around the world, they have traveled to five of the seven continents. They have five children and have been homeschooling since the late 1980’s. Their oldest is an extremely successful medical sales and marketing district manager for five states. Their second oldest is married with two children and is a missionary in Turkey. The last three are adopted from the Philippines and are currently being homeschooled. Barbara has worked at local, state, national, and international levels to help parents establish and maintain their right to personally direct the upbringing and education of their children. She has established homeschool organizations, speaks at conferences, and teaches workshops to encourage parents in their homeschool endeavors.

Liz Gitonga and her husband Patrice began homeschooling about 17 years ago, becoming one of the pioneers of Kenyan homeschooling families. Liz has a great passion for education and describes her homeschooling journey as one that has been pivotal in shaping her views on education. She co-founded one of the first homeschool co-ops for Kenyans and has subsequently founded two other co-ops that continue to grow strong. She is a steering committee member of the East Africa Community of Homeschoolers (EACH), an organization that networks homeschoolers in the region. She is also an education consultant, providing training and guidance to homeschoolers, parents, and other educators. Her passion is to use her skill, knowledge and experience to contribute to the attainment of quality education among those living below the poverty line in sub–Saharan Africa (who form about 70% of the total population), through initiatives that promote direct parental involvement in education.

Liz holds a master’s degree in education psychology. Liz and her husband are blessed with three children: Gloria (25), Josiah (20), Joy (17).

Silvia is married to Paulo Cópio and is a mother of three children who were all homeschooled. Currently, the oldest is finishing a professional music course and the other two are still being homeschooled. She is a host of various homeschool support activities such as family arts, sports groups, mom and dad sharing circles, teen tutoring and more.

Silvia is the president of the Movement for Freedom in Education (Movimento Educação Livre – MEL), a pioneering association in Portugal that promotes and defends innovative and child-centered forms of education. She supports and advises several families and associative projects that are needed in Portugal to guarantee and defend their rights and is a representative of the rights of home educating families to administrative, governmental and political circles. Silvia is also a founder of the DEScobrir (Discovering) Project – Development, Education and Sustainability, a project that promotes parental empowerment for education and family rights based on personal development tools and pedagogical training.

Silvia has a degree in Conservation and Restoration and a master’s in Museology. She developed her academic background by studying at the University of Fine Arts of Lisbon, the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, the School of Decorative Arts, the New University of Lisbon and the Catholic University of Porto. She curated exhibitions and conserved collections for a long time and was a Ph.D. researcher in Preventive Conservation and Risk Assessment in museum reserves up until 2014. In 2014, Silvia devoted herself entirely to her family and the rights of the families in her country and in the world.

Karin van Oostrum from Pretoria, South Africa, has been involved in home education for the past 29 years, together with her late husband Leendert van Oostrum. Their three daughters never attended school. Before her marriage, Karin obtained a B.A. degree as well as a B.A. Honours in Applied Linguistics. She worked as a lecturer for a while, as a youth worker, and as a translator and editor. She and her late husband, Leendert van Oostrum, were co-founders of the South African Association for Homeschooling in 1992. In 1998 they co-founded the Pestalozzi Trust, the South African legal defense fund for home and civil education and have since then managed the Trust together. She accompanied Leendert to GHEC 2012 and 2016. Since Leendert’s death in October 2016, Karin has been appointed manager of the Trust and is responsible for the general and financial administration of the Trust. She also handles telephonic and electronic enquiries on various aspects of homeschooling and offers workshops to veterans and newbies on legal and practical aspects of home education.

Godfrey Kyazze, through studying the Bible to understand a biblical perspective on education, became convicted to homeschool his children. Through this process, he and his wife have created a homeschooling curriculum, previously non-existent in Uganda, to train their children in Christian principles from the African perspective. This new curriculum includes training in African history, economics, math, science, and other academic disciplines from a biblical worldview. Godfrey has published a number of papers on home education, curriculum, and a biblical view of life. He is a curriculum writer, trainer, and speaker on matters of biblical worldview, education, economics, family, and governance, all from a distinctly Christian point of view. After creating these materials, Godfrey learned that many other Christian schools desired to teach from this perspective and use the curriculum. He then characterized his perspective on education as a system, which incorporates biblical principles, biblical thinking, and biblical reasoning into training of any kind.

Vinicius Reis is the Head of Ombudsman at the Infrastructure Ministry since January 2019; Chairman of the Technical Ombudsman’s Committee of entities linked to the Brazilian Infrastructure Ministry, since January 2019; Executive Director of National Homeschooling Association – ANED; Member of ITU-T SG12, inclusive Quek Guide Document Editor.

Vinicius earned his graduate degree in law after earning his postgraduate in Telecommunications Regulation. He serves as a federal public servant – Regulatory Specialist of the National Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL). His past professional experience holds numerous titles of Lawyer; Business Representative; Conciliator in Federal Court; Legal Advisor in the Brazilian Education Ministry; Process Coordinator; Analysis of Sanctioning Procedures; Technical Advisor, and Project Manager. But with all this experience, Vincius thanks God for everything that he has accomplished so far.

Emese was born in Budapest, Hungary, but spent many years abroad in the Benelux states and in the United States. She has been homeschooling and “roadschooling” for 10+ years. Her experiences led her to become an advocate for parental rights in her country of origin.

Emese’s activity as a lawyer has always been related to the most vulnerable groups of people. She has been active in national legislation, finalizing drafts of criminal laws on domestic violence, and lobbying at the Councils of the Parliament. As a lawyer-linguist of the European Parliament, she worked and lived in Luxembourg & Strasbourg (France), conducted research and analysis of legal texts, and worked as a part of an international team of lawyers. Later, she became a homeschool mom of three boys. Since 2013, in association with multiple organizations, homeschool leaders, and independent schools, she has been advising families in legal issues, accompanying and helping homeschooling families in court cases and other legal questions, and writing reports and summaries about the current legal situation and parental freedoms in Hungary. She has been working on developing relationships with governmental leaders in the field of education as well as official research institutes and NGOs with the help of HSLDA.

Marek Budajezak from Poland deals with home education in several ways. With his wife and daughter and son, he was among the first (25 years ago) homeschoolers in their country. As a scholar (with his Ph.D. in educational sciences and professorate at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan) he wrote the first scholarly book on home education within continental Europe (three editions by now), along with many articles and interviews for popular media. He is the president of the Home Education Association and also of Education Domestica Institute, helping many Polish parents (even in court cases) with homeschooling their children and fighting for just legislation in the field.

Tim Vince has a lifelong experience in education. Not only his own formal education at five schools and two UK universities – graduating with a B.A. (Hons) and MSc – but also as a governor of a pioneering SEN school for 28 years. He has wide commercial and charity experience in Europe and the Middle East, edited a newspaper for religious leaders, and arranged for thousands of personal pilgrimages. Over the last 15 years, Tim has presented Christian TV programs in the UK and engaged in public inter-religious debates. He leads The European Academy of Christian Homeschooling – serving around 2,000 Christian homeschoolers and is on the steering committee of The Values Foundation to support faith and families in education. He is married with two children who are currently in university.

Erika Di Martino is a European social entrepreneur in personal growth, education, and family. She has a master’s degree in language, literature and culture, and has lived in Italy and California during her youth. Presently, she lives with her family in Ireland. Along with her husband, she founded the Italian Home Education Network in 2012 (www.edupar.org), a pioneering organization that popularized and normalized homeschooling in Italy and has been promoting and defending educational freedom for over 10 years.

While homeschooling her five children, she supports and advises several family and associative projects throughout Europe and is the best-selling author of Educazione Parentale in Italia, the first manual on home education published in Italy. She hosts various homeschool support activities and is the managing director of EDUlearn, a learning platform that aims to empower families to pursue what matters through flexible and personalized online education. Erika has also collaborated with numerous Italian and international newspapers and has participated in various television programs and events to explain how to homeschool to millions of people. She and her family have been inspiring and supporting parents who are embracing this educational choice and sharing their challenges, their achievements, and their spiritual growth.

Peter Stock is an experienced pro-family leader and strategist with over two decades of success in government, media and public relations. However, his journey to homeschooling began long before marriage and children. Despite a promising career in the mining industry (B.Sc. Geology, University of Toronto), Peter answered the call to Ottawa to serve in the area of public policy. As a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament, Peter was involved in speech writing, media relations, research and committee strategy. Later, he co-founded the Canada Family Action Coalition. As the National Affairs Director, Peter successfully influenced public policy on various child protection issues. Peter also utilized his writing skills as a Parliament Hill Correspondent reporting for a national newsmagazine. He has worked for a number of MPs and cabinet ministers, and developed expertise in several areas of policy, but his primary focus remained on family issues.

It did not take long for Peter to see that the homeschooling movement was a positive response to the culture-induced challenges that families are faced with. His experience with public policy, from conception to implementation, naturally progressed into protecting and promoting home education. Peter was selected as President of the Home School Legal Defense Association of Canada (HSLDA) in 2017, succeeding Paul Farris. For over 14 years, Peter and his wife, Tarah, have homeschooled their four children, and as President of HSLDA Canada and Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Home Education, Peter continues to employ his expertise and passion to serve homeschooling families across Canada and around the world.

Juliet English is an experienced home educator who is passionate about encouraging and empowering parents to educate their children with boldness and freedom. She is an advocate of home education as a positive and valid educational choice and is engaged in a number of initiatives which benefit home educators in the UK, drawing on her personal experience of educating her own seven children, running groups, activities and conferences, as well as her background in social work. Juliet is a director at Streams Education, a non-profit company offering support and advice to home educators and runs the Learn Free Home Educators’ Conference in the UK.

Dorcas Ross is the founder of the Bolivian homeschooling community. Her formal education includes a bachelor’s in communications and post-degree studies in philosophy of education. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in project development. Dorcas and her husband Dante live in Bolivia, South America, and have been homeschooling their three daughters for the last decade.

As a professional, Dorcas has worked with both NGOs and public offices in health, economics, culture, and education fields. She is a published author and frequent speaker in different cultural and educational events in her country and abroad. She volunteers in the following areas: kids in burnt wing; children of imprisoned women; homeless children and youth; protected areas lobbying; AIDS prevention, and, lately, culture bonding across countries with POA and works with the Bolivian homeschooling community for a friendlier environment to homeschool families in her country.

Gaba Costa is a Brazilian entrepreneur in the field of education focusing on homeschooling, self-education, and high culture. She is the founder of SIMEDUC TALKS, the largest online homeschooling event in Brazil, and has helped thousands of families around the world with her digital parent empowerment platform. She is directly involved in the political movement to regulate home education in Brazil and in the promotion of in-person and online events to foster knowledge and encouragement to Brazilian home educating families. Since 2018, she has been the national executive director of the Classical Christian Education Program – Classical Conversations Brazil, the fastest growing homeschooling program in Brazil.

Gaba has a master’s in literature, culture and contemporaneity from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Throughout her academic career, she participated in projects of great relevance to Brazilian education as well as in the production of articles. She was a professor of the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) online program in Business Writing, Management by Competencies and People Management in Public Administration with extensive experience at FGV Projects and publishers in linguistic and textual stylistic revision, text editing and preparation of originals. She was also a Ph.D. researcher in education, but left this position in 2016 to start homeschooling her child.

Sameera Mohammad, a dedicated homeschooling mother, brings a decade of practical experience to
her role. With four children, two of whom have successfully earned US high school diplomas and
university admissions through homeschooling, Sameera has become a prominent figure in the field. As a
guest speaker on the Pakistani TV show “Nadia Khan,” she has shared insights into homeschooling. She
has also spoken at conferences in the UAE and Russia, and her homeschooling journey has been
featured by Friday Magazine in the UAE.
A former banker turned advocate for home education, Sameera launched the Urdu YouTube channel
“Parhai by Samz” to raise awareness about homeschooling, children’s mental health, and safety issues.
She actively engages in various home education projects and support groups, demonstrating a passion
for innovative learning concepts. Sameera, residing in the UAE, supports educational activities in the
region and ensures her children’s strengths flourish through suitable platforms.
In addition to her homeschooling endeavors, Sameera serves as an academic advisor, holding positions
on the Advisory Board for Global Home Education Exchange (GHEX) and as Vice President and Executive
Board Member for Transatlantic Council, BSA. Her commitment to fostering educational excellence
extends beyond her family, making her a valuable contributor to the global home education community.

Zabdiel is married to Karime Gallegos and together they have 5 children. He is a
member of Capital City Baptist Church in Mexico City.
In 2009, he started homeschooling his children and founded Homeschooling México (www.homeschoolingmexico.com.mx), the first online community of home school families in Mexico. In 2018, he founded the Orchestra of Children and Youth Educated at Home
(ONJEH, www.onjeh.org). In 2022 he assumed the position of director of El Hogar Educador (www.elhogareducador.org), a ministry that promotes home education through conferences and publications. Recently, he contributed to the design of a legal initiative in favor of home education in Mexico. He has been a member of the Global Home Education Exchange board since 2022.