Homeschool Idaho Convention Speakers
Homeschool Idaho is committed to bringing together authentic speakers with life changing messages of encouragement
Homeschool Idaho Convention Speakers
Homeschool Idaho is committed to bringing together authentic speakers with life changing messages of encouragement
Connie Albers
Author, Speaker, Podcaster
Connie Albers has spent much of her adult life as a homeschool mom to five and mompreneur with an outreach and ministry to parents through her speaking and various leadership roles. Balancing her roles as a wife, speaker, homeschooler, consultant, and active volunteer, she has learned to discover resilience and joy within the stop and go of life. She is a respected leader, social media enthusiast, and trusted mom who understands the challenges of balancing the demands of life, work and homeschool.
More recently, Connie is equipping parents with her book Parenting Beyond the Rules by NavPress, which outlines positive approaches to parenting today’s teenagers. Connie’s mission is to equip moms to live their life with confidence and joy.
Adam Andrews
Director of Center for Literacy Education
Adam Andrews is the director of the Center for Literary Education and a home schooling father of six. Since 2003, he has traveled throughout the United States and Canada presenting an innovative method for teaching the crucial skills of literary analysis.
Adam’s dynamic presentations enable students to enjoy great literature as never before, while his fresh insights inspire parents and teachers with new vision for their task as educators. Adam holds the B.A. from Hillsdale College and the M.A. from the University of Washington, where he is currently a candidate for the Ph.D. in history. He is a Henry Salvatori Fellow of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the founding headmaster of Westover Classical Academy in Colville Washington. He and his wife Missy, a Hillsdale graduate and accomplished educator in her own right, taught all six of their children at home in Rice, Washington.
Aby Rinella
Speaker, Podcaster, Homeschool Idaho Board Member
Aby Rinella is an Idaho native and lives in the mountains with her college sweetheart and their three kids. Aby writes and speaks to encourage and inspire parents to answer the call to train up their children in God’s Word and to stand on truth in a culture that has lost its foundation.
Aby can be found as a frequent guest on the Schoolhouse Rocked podcast, as well as other homeschool podcasts. She and her husband serve on the board of Homeschool Idaho.
Aby also writes for the outdoor industry, sharing her family’s experiences in the outdoors.
Pamela Gates
Speaker, Certified Learning Specialist
Pamela Gates is a Certified Learning Specialist in Dianne Craft’s Learning System. She has 18 years’ experience working with bright, hard-working, but struggling students. She is a popular speaker at homeschool conferences, bringing hope to families with children who struggle with learning. Pam’s workshops are filled with practical teaching strategies that parents find are easy to implement the next day. Kids will love them and begin to feel as smart as they really are! Parents find Pam’s workshops to be lighthearted and life changing.
She is also an Educational Consultant, conducting Personal Consultations and tutoring services with families in Denver, Colorado. As a homeschooling mother of six, Pam had an 8-year-old daughter with Dyslexia who was unable to remember letter sounds or spell her name. Using unique, alternative teaching methods, her daughter overcame her dyslexia and now has her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Development.
Pamela Gates
Speaker, Certified Learning Specialist
Pamela Gates is a Certified Learning Specialist in Dianne Craft’s Learning System. She has 18 years’ experience working with bright, hard-working, but struggling students. She is a popular speaker at homeschool conferences, bringing hope to families with children who struggle with learning. Pam’s workshops are filled with practical teaching strategies that parents find are easy to implement the next day. Kids will love them and begin to feel as smart as they really are! Parents find Pam’s workshops to be lighthearted and life changing.
She is also an Educational Consultant, conducting Personal Consultations and tutoring services with families in Denver, Colorado. As a homeschooling mother of six, Pam had an 8-year-old daughter with Dyslexia who was unable to remember letter sounds or spell her name. Using unique, alternative teaching methods, her daughter overcame her dyslexia and now has her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Development.
Jennie Nelson
Speaker, Podcaster
Jennie Nelson has led and managed small group ministries for over 25 years, so she is no stranger to developing relationships in community. She is a passionate homeschooling mother of three boys, ages 19 (now in college), 16, and 6, and has lived in Idaho for 12 wonderfully adventurous years.
Jennie enjoys mentoring women through The Learning Path Podcast and small groups, as well as walking alongside new homeschoolers as they decide how to uniquely tailor the homeschooling experience to their families’ needs. Her own family has loved homeschooling, so she hopes to help other families feel that joy and community as they homeschool.
Jennie Nelson
Speaker, Podcaster
Jennie Nelson has led and managed small group ministries for over 25 years, so she is no stranger to developing relationships in community. She is a passionate homeschooling mother of three boys, ages 19 (now in college), 16, and 6, and has lived in Idaho for 12 wonderfully adventurous years.
Jennie enjoys mentoring women through The Learning Path Podcast and small groups, as well as walking alongside new homeschoolers as they decide how to uniquely tailor the homeschooling experience to their families’ needs. Her own family has loved homeschooling, so she hopes to help other families feel that joy and community as they homeschool.
Linda Patchin
Author, Speaker, Homeschool Idaho Board Member
Linda homeschooled her four children from birth through high school. She is a founding and current board member of Homeschool Idaho and is a regular columnist for the Homeschool Idaho Magazine. She wrote the book, The Politics of Pie: A History of Idaho Homeschooling, which tells the incredible story of how Idaho went from jailing homeschool parents to the freest state in the union. Linda loves to offer encouragement to homeschool parents! She lives in Boise with her husband, Paul. They have been blessed with five grandchildren.
Audra Talley
Homeschool Idaho Board Member
Audra Talley was homeschooled during the early days of the modern homeschool movement and had a front row seat to the battle for homeschool freedom in her home state of Idaho. After completing her homeschool coursework, she attended the College of Idaho where she graduated with a BA in Political Science and History. She and her husband, Bruce, currently reside in southern Idaho where Audra homeschools the younger 3 of their 4 children (the oldest is grown). She is actively involved in the local community through a local co-op, she and her husband manage their church’s homeschool group along with other ministries, and they sit on the Board of Homeschool Idaho, a statewide homeschool organization that exists to inspire, promote, and preserve the homeschool way of life. Audra contributes regularly to Homeschool Idaho’s quarterly magazine and loves to encourage homeschool families along their homeschool journey.