Serving the Home Education community.
Christina was born into a large family and moved to Alberta as a young girl. Church, school and politics were always in discussion over coffee and meals with family and friends. Parental involvement in education was always a priority for her parents and when they realized the potential freedoms in homeschooling it was the direction they took. When she and Kevin married and began having children they decided that they would also continue this legacy. Together as a family they enjoy farming and all that comes with the lifestyle. God has blessed them in many ways and been their strength and comfort throughout their lives. It is privilege to join the AHEA board at this time.
Shannon is the mother of seven and has been home educating them since the beginning. She is a former public school teacher who never dreamed of home education until she had her own children! She has enjoyed serving on the AHEA Board for over 14 years in various roles, such as speaker coordinator, convention liaison, a member of the government liaison team, and the past three years serving as vice-president. She would like AHEA to remain faithful in being an encouraging and effective advocate for home educating parents while remaining true to the biblical worldview that has kept AHEA strong.
I was raised in southwest Calgary in a secular home and attended public school grades 1-12. In high school, I was invited to a church youth group. I quickly joined the various church activities only for the social aspect that it brought to my life. I understood almost nothing concerning spiritual things. One evening, I attended a service where an evangelist was speaking. It was then I became concerned about the truths he spoke, and primarily, my relationship with God. The following Sunday I received Christ as Lord of my life. This gave me a new resolve to finish high school so that I could proceed to college in order to study for the ministry. I graduated from high school with senior matriculation but realized in the first few months that I was wholly unprepared for college. However, with extra classes, I graduated in 1987 with my Bachelor of Theology. After graduating, I began pastoring a small rural church in Alberta. I married my dear wife in 1988 and began family life. In 1995, with the influence of family and friends, we began homeschooling our oldest daughter (then 5). Another motive for our choice to home educate was the desire to avoid what I had experienced in my early education. As time has progressed we have come to clearly understand the merits of home education. All of our 11 children have been home educated. The youngest is almost 8 and promises to give us at least 10 more years of fruitful service to our Lord through homeschooling. Over the years, I have pastored, worked in industry, and farmed. Presently, I am engaged in construction. The Lord continues to work out his purposes in our lives.
Peter and Andrée have 4 daughters and began their home school journey in 2005, when they decided to take their oldest two daughters out of school. Their daughters were 12 (just finished grade 6), 10 (just finished grade 4), 4 and 2 when they started to home school. They have graduated 3 daughters and are down to the youngest who is in grade 11. Andrée and her girls have been helping Pete run a small beef farm for the past 7 years, while Pete works full time off the farm. Being a wife and full time stay at home mom has been very fulfilling to her and she would consider it the best calling in her life. She thanks God and Jesus Christ for the opportunity they have had to home educate their children in freedom. She is also thankful for AHEA and the parents that came before them who fought for this freedom that they have so enjoyed the last 14 years of home schooling.
Ted relishes teaming up with others to promote faith, family, and freedom. He enjoys working as a web application developer, but in his spare time is keen to help move society towards a proper balancing of various government realms: civic, church, family, and individual. He spent six years on a federal party board and several years with Toastmasters. He loves learning with, and working alongside, his dear wife and seven children. Ted enjoyed serving six years as president of AHEA previously, and again since 2019, and feels blessed to continue to serve home educating families. He has a passion for implementing at home the great ideas he observes from past and current home educators, whether these folks are geographically distant leaders or local friends. Despite the struggles we all have at times, Ted is so impressed with the fruit of home education: friendly, grounded, talented, and animated young adults.
Pete was born in small town Ontario, and his Christian parents and four siblings dairy farmed along with an uncle and cousins until after Pete graduated high school and began university. His wife, Andrée, attended the same university as Pete. Shortly after graduating they were married, and Andrée taught school while Pete worked in manufacturing.
Shortly after their first two children were born they moved to Alberta, and before long began homeschooling as two more children were added to their number. Homeschooling was admittedly not a first choice, although they had good friends that showed them it could be successful. It didn’t take long before the fruits of homeschooling became evident however.
Time together as a family without the kids being away for eight hours or more a day began creating a different home culture. It hasn’t been all roses, as one might expect. Each child acts and reacts differently. But to say they were pleased with the outcomes would be a significant understatement. Personally, each of them has met the Lord. Over the years they’ve tried to serve their church, neighbours and community by being involved and giving back as much as possible.
They’re especially thankful for those who broke the trail for homeschooling in Alberta, and thought that perhaps this might be a time to serve this community. They see the cultural landscape changing quickly around them, and they’re concerned for the future of homeschooling in Alberta as they know it today.
Kevin was born and raised in Edmonton where he completed his high schooling. He then moved to the country where he and Christina were married. The Lord has blessed them as they endeavored to make a living and raise their family of 13 children. Farming and mechanics have always been Kevin’s interests. We love what God has given us in homeschooling our children over the last 23 years and look forward to contributing to the AHEA board working to maintain the God given freedom for homeschooling families in Alberta.
