Inspired Homeschooling
Alisha Brignall is a passionate homeschooling advocate. She homeschools her 4 kids, ages 6-14, while running a business and attending university. Alisha runs Alberta’s only secular homeschooling conference (Inspired Calgary). She is studying for her education degree at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.
Why I Wanted Alisha On The Podcast
Some may know of Alisha through her previous blog, Learning From My Kids, or her old podcast. I came to know of Alisha as an attendee at the Inspired Secular Homeschool Conference a few years ago.
She’s a homeschooling mom with children that face some learning challenges. They have homeschooled for over 8 years and counting. Alisha supports their individualized learning needs and advocates well for them. She is a strong believer that learning must be meaningful and it is about taking risks. Her advocacy work has built a community that supports children, special needs and diversified learning.
Alisha and I also talk about her reasons behind obtaining her teaching degree. I find that pursuing her education degree gives Alisha a unique perspective. I wanted to hear why she wanted to pursue a degree in a field that I thought she had become disillusioned by.
In this episode we talked about
- Why Alisha decided to homeschool
- The challenges she faced as a homeschool mother and what finally put her worry to ease
- Her core beliefs in learning and education
- How she balances homeschooling, University and work
- Why she believes homeschooling may not work for every family
- Advocacy in Education
- Their family homeschool process
- The Inspired Secular Homeschool Conference
- Will she still homeschool her children once she receives her teaching degree?
Resources
Inspired Secular Homeschool Conference
Dr Gordon Neufeld~Hold On To Your Kids
You can listen to my interview with Michelle Goulet, cofounder of the Calgary Inspired Secular Homeschool Conference~Wild Child Forest School.