How Our Family Works Together in Homeschooling and in Music Ministry

by Heather Fehr

I suspect that our family is like a lot of homeschooling families: continually busy, working at things that are necessary, learning and practicing skills that we think are important, and building things that we love. My husband James and I both had the privilege to receive a home education when we were of school age: James from grades five through twelve, and me from grades ten through twelve. We have been home educating our own eleven children for the last 21 years: seven of whom have completed their formal schooling at home and four that are still working on it. All of our children live at home except for one son who is married to a lovely gal with a precious new son of their own. For now, our older kids are happy to live at home until God leads them elsewhere. They have jobs and contribute financially to help cover costs. Besides homeschooling and outside work, God has also allowed our family to work together as a musical ensemble we call The Fehr Family Band.

When we started out as a couple and then a family, we didn’t plan to have a music ministry, but we did intend to home educate our children. As part of our homeschooling, we decided to incorporate music as one of the non-negotiable subjects that each of our children would participate in. When our oldest daughter was seven and our second child was six, we had the opportunity to enroll them both in a three-year piano music program called Music for Young Children. I went with them each week to the lessons and helped them practice at home. I’d been a piano/voice teacher before getting married and I realized that I could learn how to teach this program and then use it to teach my other children, as well as having outside students come to our home for lessons. Our youngest child, now ten years old, recently finished his three-year program of group music lessons and is now continuing to take private piano lessons. School wasn’t finished for the day until music practice was done. Practicing is still a big part of all of our
children’s lives. If you come to our home during the week, there is a good possibility that you will hear various instruments being played throughout the house, from the laundry room to washrooms to the furnace room and the bedrooms. It’s a pleasant cacophony of musical noise. I love hearing each one honing their skills, developing personal practice disciplines, and seeing
how they grow in character as they are diligent.

As time went on, the children began to be interested in instruments other than the piano. Since they had already begun to learn the language of music, learning another instrument was quite a bit easier. The three older boys chose to learn guitar, mandolin and banjo. After some time learning and practicing on their own, they started to play together. At a time in their life when they were also part of a community handbell choir, they were asked to play a song on their acoustic instruments at one of their handbell concerts. From there, a kind pastor who attended asked if they played for other events. He invited our family to play and sing some songs at a seniors’ get-together. Not long after, two of our girls started to learn violin from a local teacher. Other instruments that various children have learned to play are the cello, tin whistle, flute, Irish drum, harmonica, and ukelele. As everyone’s abilities improved, we were asked more often to play and sing at various events.This pushed us to start incorporating a larger spectrum of arrangements and songs into our repertoire. We would continually try to bring fresh new songs into our setlists for the new events we attended. This allowed us to keep growing in our abilities at a steady pace. We love the growing and stretching this causes! It has been interesting to see how the more music we do, the more we realize that we still have so much to learn.

Soon after we started singing, James’ parents, who used to travel in their own family music group, passed on to us their sound system and trailer for hauling it around. It really helped to learn to run sound for ourselves, although it involved a steep learning curve. We have been able to gradually add to our equipment, as well as use some of it to record a couple of albums. We are just starting to work on a third recording which we hope to be finished this spring. Meanwhile, we have kept diligently working at our schoolwork. We do a more traditional type of schooling in our home. We’ve used a few different programs that are set up with lessons so that I don’t have to do much preparation. School is Monday through Friday most weeks during the traditional school year. We start out each September working toward a set amount of work to be completed by Christmas. Then after a nice holiday break, we get going again in January with plans to be finished our season’s worth of schoolwork by the end of May. We don’t always get it completely finished, but it’s usually close. Then if we still have some left, we can do a little here and there when we have time in the summer. I had almost all of the teaching responsibilities for the first 12 years or so. Since then, as the girls have gotten older, they have helped each other and the younger ones quite a bit. I’m still very involved, but I do appreciate my wonderful helpers. Teaching responsibilities have evolved smoothly as situations have fluctuated, including dealing with health issues for certain ones, and adjusting to new and different busy seasons in our lives.

Summers have been very interesting and event-filled for the last few years. We have had the opportunity to present music at various jamborees and festivals throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Our whole family jumps in the van or on our 1975 MCI bus as we travel together to events. We also have bookings on weekends throughout the school year. We love to sing about Jesus and what He can do. We love to make music together. We love to meet new people. And we love to learn and grow, because there are always so many opportunities for that!

A more recent opportunity that has allowed us to grow and learn has been taking on the responsibility for running the annual Deer Valley Meadows Gospel Music Jamboree held at a camp east of Red Deer. It’s been a fun challenge to learn how to run this successfully. This includes booking and working with many different music groups and volunteers, setting up and running sound, booking camp lodging and meals for attendees, buying and serving food for some of the guests, hosting and accommodating the music groups, arranging the event’s three-day schedule, and making promotional materials. This event is a very exciting time for all of us and we look forward to it every year! You can get more info at dvmgospelmusic.com in case you’d like to come and join us!

Many things that we hadn’t planned on have been added to our original home education plan since we first began our journey, but God has paved the way and opened doors. Besides reading, writing, and arithmetic and other standard subjects, we’ve been able to learn a lot about music, instruments, songwriting and arranging, and time management on many levels. With the help of friends and mentors, we’ve learned about sound equipment and its upkeep, as well as bus, trailer and vehicle maintenance and bus/RV renovation. We have made family harmony a high priority – the relational kind more than the musical kind. We’ve realized that there are so many opportunities for education outside of actual schoolwork. We’ve also found that it is possible to do a thorough job of traditional homeschooling while pursuing other interests and hobbies that have turned into a music ministry. It’s an exciting life! We look forward to the new adventures God has in store, and we will keep striving to be faithful in what He has called us to do.

In partnership with the Christian Impact Network, AHEA is putting on an Essay Contest this year!

The first 8 high school students who provide a well written essay (please no help from AI), will be able to attend a May 4 Leadership Summit in Red Deer for free thanks to the organizers. Students can submit a 250 word / 1 page article on why home education is valuable to them both as politically involved and culture driving citizens.

There are free spots at this event for up to 8 high school essay submitters.

by Rachelle Shonwise

Have you ever looked at a day spreading in front of you with a hundred things already clamouring for your attention and wondered what was most important? Or looked back at a day of responding (reacting more often than not in my case) and wondered if the things that demanded your attention were really the most important? As homeschooling moms (and dads, but that’s a perspective I have yet to experience), there are a myriad of urgent things pulling our attention this way and that. There’s the house to clean, run, organize, and maybe even decorate. There are meals to be planned, shopped for, prepped, cooked, served, and cleaned up. There are people to be cleaned, listened to, read to, taught, encouraged, held, and driven to places. There’s schooling planning to be done (or at least thought about), curriculum to be evaluated, bought, and (hopefully) implemented. There are ideas to consider and then communicate. And that’s all without really taking into consideration life outside of our kids and households!

Some days I miss the simplicity of the diaper days– the days when life was crazy, but I knew I’d changed the diapers, read to the kids, and kept them all fed, and that was the most important. Of course, I then remember the struggle of having multiple urgent needs pulling me more ways than I was capable of going, and then remind myself that every stage has its joys and challenges. If the truth be told, it doesn’t matter which stage of life I’m in, I resonate with Anne Morrow Lindburgh when she longs for, “a ingleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact—to borrow from the language of the saints—to live ‘in grace’ as much of the time as possible.” Isn’t that what each of us desire on some level? To know what a rich and sustainable life looks like, a life that ends with “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

I think to find that clarity and singleness of purpose we have to start first with the why, and then with the how of our calling. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all I’ve commanded you.” Jesus’ final command to His disciples before He left was simply to continue what He had started—making disciples. Every one of us has a mission, and the foundation of every mission is that call to discipleship. When we become parents, our mission field sharpens into focus with our kids as our first priority. While I’ve found that God uses this hidden, intensive discipleship program of parenting to prepare us for a mission field outside the home, as long as we have kids, discipling them is our first responsibility. Our “why” is to fulfill that calling to discipleship.

Discipleship is the act of doing life shoulder-to-shoulder and face-to-face with another, and using that life to point them toward what is good, true, and beautiful, and ultimately, to God. But here’s the kicker. You can only give what you have. You can only teach what you know. And you can only model what you see– what is filling your mental vision. This means our “how” has to start a little closer to home. To disciple well starts with a commitment to personal growth and an understanding of what it means to allow the life of Christ to live through us. To worry less about curriculum and parenting styles and more about keeping
our eyes on Christ.

In essence, a life of clarity and purpose begins with being before doing; with making space to fill our hearts and minds with what is good, true, and beautiful, so we have something to share. I am reminded of Jesus’ interaction with Mary and Martha during His time on earth. Jesus commended Mary’s choice to sit at His feet and learn, to even step out of the bounds of what society found acceptable in order to hear His words and be in His presence. This doesn’t negate doing—on the contrary, our sense of peace and confidence in the doing comes from first being transformed by His presence.

It’s a funny thing really, the fluid nature of time. So often I think I don’t have time to be quiet, to sit and read, to journal and pray, to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. And yet, when I do take that time, it repays itself tenfold in clarity of purpose, in peace, and in the ability to remember who I am in Christ. So much of my stress is uncertainty and worry about what might happen or what the most important thing is for me to do. Often the thing that is most needful is not the loudest or most demanding action, nor is it often the thing I feel like doing. More often than not I want to DO something concrete and measurable, rather than building rhythms of slow, hidden heart work that don’t seem to bear fruit for years. I was recently challenged and encouraged by this reminder from Reclaiming Quiet:

“We have to live in such a way that knowledge ripens in body as well as mind, in affection as well
as word, as we mold our lives by eternal rhythms and shapes rather than those of a fallen world.
“We are asked to shape our lives, our time, our attention by habits and rhythms radically different
from the windblown fury of the broken world. This means an entirely alternate shape of life, not just
the subtraction of screens and distractions but the embrace of prayer, of daily wonder, of listening, of
trust, of celebration that roots us moment by moment in that deep, watchful quiet that ushers us
into the presence of God.”

Building habits of quiet, of sitting in the presence of God and doing the work of excavating the lies and fears that are bombarding my mind, and then bringing them before Him to be remade is the work. Investing time to find Scripture that speaks truth to the lie I’m believing and worshipping Him for what He says is true (as opposed to what I feel) transforms me and enables me to have something to share with my kids. Sara Hagerty sums this up so perfectly in Adore:

“Adoration is where we bring our raw vulnerability– our ‘what I actually believe about You, God’– to
the place of His truth, expecting Him to change us…Adoration is not an exclusion of our emotions.
Adoration never requires us to shut down our emotions. On the contrary, it invites us to bring
them– all of them– to God. God does not want our polished pretenses. He wants our whole selves,
and He wants us to come honestly. So He invites us to wrestle.”

This is the most important work. Choosing to courageously face our doubts, fears, and questions and doing the hard work of wrestling with God that will allow His life to be lived through our unique personality, circumstances, and family. This doesn’t mean perfection —far from it. Our kids don’t need perfection, they need to see us running with our frailty to Christ.

“(Your kids) don’t need you to be a perfect example of Christlikeness. Your goal is not for them to be your disciple, after all. They need you to point them to the One who is worthy of following. The daily battles of discipling may make you wonder whether you’re toiling in vain. But keep pressing in. You can’t expect a harvest during planting season. Concentrate on reaching the heart of those you’ve built relationships
with, and time will take care of the rest.”

Our job is simply to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, to faithfully do the work He brings to our attention each day, leaving the outcomes in His hands, and trusting Him when He says, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” May we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, sitting at His feet as a disciple first and then allowing His life to make disciples through us

Rachelle Shonwise is a third generation homeschooler, mom of five boys and one daughter, ages 7-16, and has been married for seventeen years to her favourite person, Josh. They have run a plumbing business for the past fourteen years and are currently transitioning into pastoring the Wimborne Alliance church.
Rachelle loves reading, gardening, and people. Nothing fuels her tank so much as engaging in a good discussion about ideas with others.

In light of the strikes going in the Public School system, there have been some updates from the Government of Alberta.

They have extended the funding date so that parents who want to homeschool during the strike can. They have also lifted the 10 credit cap for non resident distance learning courses.

If a family chooses to register their child in a home education program during labour action, both the family and the supervising independent school will be eligible for up to 50 per cent of the home education grant funding for the first term. This would amount to:

$225.25 for children enrolled in kindergarten.

$450.50 for children enrolled in grades 1-12.

If parents choose to continue to be registered in a home education program after January 31, they will be eligible to receive the full grant amount. This change applies to K-12 students.

Letter from the Government Below:

Subject: Funding Manual for School Authorities 2025/26 School Year – Fall Update

Dear colleagues:

The Funding Manual for School Authorities 2025/26 School Year has been updated with some key changes and is now available online.

Federal French Funding, Section F, has been updated to reflect the available funding rates for 2025/26. Funding under Section F3 applies exclusively to francophone minority education programs.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Grant (H6) now permit up to 20 per cent of the funds to be used for individualized supports and services including specialized counselling and clinical services. Reporting requirements will be sent out during the 2025/26 school year.

In response to the impending October 6, 2025, labour action by the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), the Funding Manual for School Authorities 2025/26 School Year has been updated.

Specifically, Section K9: Withdrawal of Teacher Services or Lockout has been updated to indicate that school boards need to apply and seek approval from Alberta Education and Childcare for additional funds required to make-up instructional days.

Temporary changes in effect during labour disruption have also been made to the Home Education Grant and to Distance Education Non-Primary registration requirements.

With respect to the Home Education Grant, parents or guardians who choose to move their child(ren) into a home education program supervised by an independent school are eligible for half the Home Education Grant. This change also applies to the Home Education Kindergarten Grant.

With respect to Distance Education Non-Primary registration requirements, during labour disruption, both the September count date for enrolment and the 10-credit cap are lifted.

I encourage you to take some time to review the updated funding manual. Changes from the 2024/25 funding manual are clearly identified using a bar on the right side of the page with an orange line for “revised” and a red line for “new,” summer updates are marked with a blue line, and new revisions are marked with a green bar. If you require further clarification or additional information on the funding manual, please contact our School Finance staff at 780-427-2055 (toll-free by first dialling 310-0000).

I look forward to our continued collaboration through the 2025/26 school year in building a stronger education system.

Sincerely, Lora Pillipow

Deputy Minister

cc: Secretary-Treasurers of Public, Separate, Francophone and Charter School Authorities

Communications Contacts at School Divisions

By Martin Vervloet

I have noticed a trend with my own children as my wife and I have endeavoured to
homeschool them. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, but they continually ask us,
“Why do I need to know this, and will it matter when I grow up?” It’s a valid question and I
must admit there is a lot that I learned while in public school that was completely
irrelevant to anything I might do as I grew older. So, we focus on the basics; reading,
writing, arithmetic, and added to this we stress godly character and hard work. It is a
system that works for us and our grown children are doing well in their chosen field of
work. However, there is a broader question here that needs to be considered. That
question is, “What makes anything matter?”

After much thought I have concluded that there are five things that must be in place for
anything to matter.

1. There must be a God.
   • It only stands to reason that if there is no God and the atheist is correct, then life here on
     earth is only the random chance processes of evolution and we are only the end product of millions of years of time and circumstance. Life can have no meaning and death is the end of all life. Not all atheists are willing to concede this point but there are some who understand the meaninglessness of existence in a world without God.

2. This God, whoever He may be, must be actively involved with that which He created.
   • If God is aloof from the universe, either by disinterest or because He cannot do anything for it, then once again we are left with a circumstance that makes life pointless at best and futile in the extreme. I will add that a God who would use evolution over millions of years, as His primary means of creation could not be interested in His creation even in a general sense. He started the clock and now just watches it wind down.
3. God must be interested in each of us personally.
   • It may be that God is interested in humanity in a general sense and that He cares about the overall outcome, but does not care overly much about the individual components of humanity. His attitude might be- you win some, you lose some. Oh well, in the end I get what I want. This is cynical I know, but this idea exists in the minds of many people, the concept being that, “God does not care about me.” If this is true, then yes, even though there is a God who seeks out some overall end to our existence, in the end my life is not overly important and does not matter in the overall scheme of things. I will argue that for life to matter then God must care about me as an individual within His creation.
4. There must be eternity, either Heaven or Hell.
   • If all roads lead to Heaven, as some are inclined to believe, it really makes no difference what happens here in this life and so we must remove any ultimate meaning to what we experience while here. If on the other hand there is no Hell, then those that do not meet up to the divine code of entrance are simply eliminated. We came from nothing and to nothing we return. Well and good. Even the atheist is happy. I say, “No.” To remove eternal consequences will also remove any motivation that we might have to seek out the truth and pursue it. The scripture says that we will never seek God in our own effort, but even if God should show Himself to us, there would be no need to serve Him. I do not like using Hell as a motivation while I preach to encourage sinners to repent and much prefer the sights of glory, but the truth still remains.

5. There is one final prerequisite to finding lasting meaning in life. God must be able to deal with the problem of man’s sin.
   • It is not enough that God should simply overlook sin or excuse it. He must deal with it. The cost of sin is high, it is eternal separation from Him who is good. If we are separated from the good then there can only be the evil left to us. You will not find the solution toman’s sin, save in the Cross of Christ. He died, that we might live. His death is the payment due upon our sin, and I might add that His resurrection is the receipt upon that payment.

My conclusion is simple. In order to find meaning in life, we must come to the Cross, where the God of the universe came to die for each of us, that we might live and find true meaning and purpose in life. The Cross Is What Makes It Matter.

“Home schooling Reimagined” – AHEA Convention 2024 was another exciting time of gathering in Red Deer at the
end of May, to enjoy speakers, attend work-shops, go curriculum shopping, make new friends and re-connect with each other. I was privileged to direct my second AHEA convention and it was again an honour.

Connie Albers, a veteran homeschool mom from Florida, inspired and challenged us to stay the course. Douglas Bond, from Washington State, reminded us of important lessons in our history and Vishal Mangalwadi, originally from India, shared with us why Christianity matters to the world.

Just over 1400 attended the weekend including 200 youth and 294 children! After feedback from many last year, we brought back our Children’s Conference run by Giant Cow Ministries which provided a sometimes needed break for parents, an exciting program for kids and a great opportunity for several young volunteers to serve. Once again, the Youth program received rave reviews from youth and parents
alike.

Over 100 exhibitors were featured in our Exhibit Hall. Friday featured the Craig Funston Memorial talk with Vishal Mangalwadi; and many enjoyed the Barn Dance once again on Saturday at noon. In our two New Homeschooler’s session, we saw over 150 participants and all this was made possible by our fabulous Convention team: Kerri Riechel (Speaker Coordinator), Bronek Walter (Exhibit Hall Coordinator), Brenda Potorieko (Volunteer Coordinator), Joel and Dana Aguilar (Facilities and Room Monitor Coordinators), Greg Lammiman (Convention Guide Editor and Advertising Coordinator), Peter Verhoog (Sponsorship Coordinator), Martin Vervloet (Security Coordinator), Heather Cartwright (Registrar), Barb Unger (Assistant Registrar), Kathy Johnson (Food Coordinator), Stephen Ramsay (Webmaster) and Lydia Riechel (Photographer). And we couldn’t have done it without the myriad of people who signed up to work at the Convention. Without you, this endeavour doesn’t happen. Thank you!

Thank you also for your feedback. We have read the surveys and will take into consideration your suggestions once again.

If you enjoyed the Convention and feel called to help us plan and organize during the year as we prepare for Convention 2025, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Convention@AHEAonline.com. It is so rewarding and we have such a great team to work with; you will be blessed as God uses you to serve so may others on their home education journey.

If this was your first year or you are still just considering Home Education, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions or need some extra support (Info@AHEAonline.com). AHEA works all year to help support Alberta’s Home Educators and to keep Homeschooling a legal and viable option here in Alberta. Over the years we have been blessed with freedom to home educate in Alberta but we don’t take that freedom lightly. History tells us, both our own and others, that those freedoms can be taken away quickly and we must remain vigilant.

All glory be to God who has equipped each of us for every good work. He is ultimately the one we thank for our successful Convention and He has sustained this team and board through another year of challenges. We are a volunteer organization, and our board is made up of home educating parents either past or present: Peter and Andrée Verhoog, Kevin and Christina Vanderzyl, Martin Vervloet, and Ted and
Shannon Tederoff.

Please pray for us and for how the Lord would have you come alongside us, whether it be in volunteering, reaching out to your friends and neighbours about the blessing of Home Education or keeping up to date with what AHEA is doing. We would appreciate that. Our Annual General Meeting takes place in the fall and to participate, be sure to become an AHEA member so you can play your part in this vital organization. To purchase membership go to www.AHEAonline.com/become-a-member.

May you have a great summer and stay tuned for an exciting mid-summer update on next year’s
keynote speakers. See you at Convention 2025!

Shannon Tederoff is a member of the AHEA Board and served as Convention Director for the 2024 AHEA Convention.