Welcome to the Counselor pages. Below you will find biographies and emails of counselors that are ready to serve your family. If you have questions about administration please check FAQ or call the HomeLife office at (901) 380-9220. If you have specific questions about teaching, scheduling, recording keeping, grading, etc. send an email to a counselor below and they will reply very soon.

Elementary Counselors | High School Counselors

The Carey Family

"To me, home education is not about books - it's all about raising up Godly men and women as future leaders and parents."

HIGH SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELOR
LANI CAREY Since June, 2003

Hi, my name is Lani Carey (pronounced like Loni, but with the Hawaiian spelling). My husband, Christopher, and I have four children. We started home educating our oldest daughter, Amber, when she was in the tenth grade back in 1991. I didn't know anything about home education then and had no friends who did. But Amber had friends who were home educating in Memphis and she decided that was what she wanted to do. She's now grown with two girls of her own (whom she also home educates) and a baby boy. Our oldest son, Justus, is in the tenth grade, Jonathan is an eighth grader, and Christin is in the fifth grade. I run an academic co-op in Fayette County, TN, which is about forty-five minutes from Memphis. We teach history and science from a Biblical world view and various additional classes.

I am by no means an expert on home education, but I have encountered a lot of the situations new home educators face. I'm excited to serve you as a counselor for HomeLife Academy!

I have discovered that if you are just going to home educate for one or two years, you do it differently than if you are certain you will never put your child in school. You are constantly comparing what you are doing at home with what the school system is doing, and you worry that they will be behind when you send them back to school. I knew I would be sending Justus back to school in the second grade because Jonathan wanted the same Kindergarten teacher that Justus had liked so much and Justus wanted to go to "protect" him. (Now that I look back, that seems rather sad.) I was constantly asking myself if he was "up to par" with what he would be doing in school. I had a three-year-old and a new baby at home, so we learned things by doing puppet shows and taking imaginary trips to Africa, by digging in the dirt, and singing songs. We played dominoes, played counting games with jars of beans, we made cookies, and watched PBS. But when Justus finished the second grade and his teacher asked everyone what they had learned, he respectfully (but honestly) told her "nothing." I could see that he had learned something - he had learned to hate learning. All of that changed, however, when I told him we would be home educating from then on.

My philosophy is that you make learning fun so that kids love to learn, and then they will learn to love. It's like a never-ending circle. The more they learn about God and His creation, and the closer they are drawn to Him, the more they can love Him, and in turn, love others. I have seen this happen with my own children, as well as in many of their home educated friends. Even if they didn't learn anything else, I would home educate for that reason. The added bonus is that they have developed a love of learning in all areas, so they are way ahead of the public and private schools.

I also believe that children need to play - unstructured play time is where kids rehearse for adult life and learn to work out life's problems. Psychologists have learned that the reason so many children are suffering from stress is because they don't have time to just play. So I let my kids structure their own time as much as I can, leaving them as much free time as possible. It's hard with the busy schedule we keep, but I never want to just imitate the school system.

At our house, if Dad is home, the boys are usually busy working with him. We have over five acres with an acre lake, so there is constant yard work. Since my husband, who is a carpenter, is rebuilding our entire house one section at a time, there is constant work on the house as well. It's good for the kids, and I consider their work with their dad just as much (if not more) a part of their education as what I'm teaching them. To me, home education is not about books - it's all about raising up Godly men and women as future leaders and parents.

I am here to help you with high school questions. Please check the High School FAQ pages first and if you don't find the answer to your question(s) just email me at lani@HomeLifeAcademy.com and I'll respond as soon as I can. If you have general administration questions please check the regular FAQ pages or call the HomeLife office at (901) 380-9220. Thank you.

The Johnson Family

As a homeschool mom for seven years, my philosophy is multi-faceted. I want to prepare my children for college and the world beyond college. I want them to have the opportunity to learn more than they ever could in a traditional school. I want to help them through their personal struggles so they can excel. I also want their desire to learn to be a catalyst so they will move forward independently. That has happened. Another great aspect of homeschooling is that our students can spend the time necessary to improve upon the talents God has given them, like music and art. In traditional schools, I believe their time is severely hindered due to spending all day there and coming home to homework. My children have learned about worldviews, why Christian worldview is what we believe, and how to recognize and refute the others. They have become entrepreneurs, serving the Homeschool community by giving classes and lessons that are sorely needed. Our family is close and works together as a team. Homeschooling has enabled us to make it through some rough times together, growing in our faith of God and each other, and still continue to excel academically.

I am here to help you with high school questions. Please check the High School FAQ pages first and if you don't find the answer to your question(s) just email me at karen@HomeLifeAcademy.com and I'll respond as soon as I can. If you have general administration questions please check the regular FAQ pages or call the HomeLife office at (901) 380-9220. Thank you

The Knowlton Family

"Homeschooling is not something our family does from 8:00-3:00, Monday through Friday; it is a way of life, EVERYDAY."

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELOR

Hello from the Knowlton family. My name is Lynn. My husband and I, along with our two children, live on a small farm east of Memphis, Tennessee. We have homeschooled from birth our two children, ages six and ten. When I think back to the time when our first child was born, I remember thinking how incredible these people were who homeschooled. I thought to myself, I could never do that. Well, a friend of mine living in Texas had been homeschooling their four children for a number of years. As I was talking to her one day, she reminded me of how she is a very unorganized person. Well I knew, of course, that this was very true. She said to me, “If I can do it, as unorganized as I am, I know you can do it!” She pointed to God’s grace as the reason for her success with her children. And I was very impressed with her children. Well, she was right! Thanks for the encouragement, Melinda.

So, here we are, and although we are not homeschooling experts by any means, we can share with others our successes and failures. Homeschooling is not something our family does from 8:00-3:00, Monday through Friday; it is a way of life, EVERYDAY. Our days are filled with the educational activities that are part of living on a farm. We feed animals, care for them when they are sick, play with and train them. The children learn about birth, life, sickness and death through the care of God’s creatures. We build fences, chicken coops, and sheds. We learn to measure, follow recipes, and double or triple ingredients while cooking. We write letters and knit dishtowels to send to grandparents. We learn about the three states of matter, how to read a mercury thermometer and how to weigh objects in ounces and pounds while making candles. We learn about the successes, failures, struggles, courage, and Godly character of missionaries and other famous men and women throughout history by reading great books.

Our family learns together by worshiping, playing, working, reading and doing formal lessons. This method of education lends itself perfectly to life on a small farm. Although this is the way we do things, it is important to remember that there are many different ways to homeschool and just as many tools available. We use a muddle of different resources. Here are a few of the things we use: The Holy Bible, Making Math Meaningful, whole books, encyclopedias, Usborne books, English from the Roots Up, and Teaching Reading at Home and School. The parent resources I most enjoy are The Well Trained Mind by Jessie and Susan Wise, A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCaulay and Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson.

We have learned that what is easy for one child will sometimes be harder for the other. Likewise, what is interesting to the one is sometimes boring to the other. But the most important thing we are learning is to love God and love one another. I am realizing how much I really didn't, but should have, learned in school. The most important things I, as a mother, am learning is to trust God and to be patient.

I wish I could say that every day was perfect. It isn't. But by the grace of God, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the loving support of my husband, I am able to move forward and my children are learning.

We are here to help if you need us. Just email lynn@HomeLifeAcademy.com and we'll respond as soon as we can. If you have administration questions check FAQ or call the HomeLife office at (901) 380-9220. May God bless you and your family.