Michael and Elizabeth Smith, along with Michael and Vickie Farris, incorporated Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983 and were the original board members. Mike grew up in Arkansas where he attended the University of Arkansas. Upon graduation, he entered the U.S. Navy, serving three years before attending law school at the University of San Diego. In 1972, he was admitted to the bar in California and also has been admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.

After being introduced to the idea of homeschooling in 1981, he became convinced he had been called to use his talents in the legal profession to assist homeschoolers who were being prosecuted because they didn’t hold a teacher’s certificate or satisfy other school district requirements for teaching their children.

Mike came to HSLDA full-time in 1987 and has served as president of the organization since 2001. He is also a contact lawyer for California, Nevada and Puerto Rico. The most enjoyable part of Mike’s job is going to homeschool conferences and meeting those he calls America’s greatest heroes, homeschooling moms.

• How Do We Measure Success in Homeschooling?
• Balancing Family Responsibilities for the Busy Homeschool Family
• Homeschooling & Parental Rights
• The Power of Praise with Our Children

Phil Downer serves as president of Discipleship Network of America. A popular speaker at men’s events, church conferences and home school conventions, Phil also speaks at couples' events with Susy, his wife of forty-one years. He is the author of numerous books including Eternal Impact: Investing in the Lives of Others. A former machine gunner who served in Viet Nam with the United States Marine Corps in 1967 and 1968, Phil was a successful lawyer before being led to Christ and discipled by fellow professionals. He left his position as one of the senior partners of a fifty-attorney law firm in Atlanta to serve as president of Christian Business Men’s Connection for a decade. Susy, also an attorney, served as assistant corporate secretary and legal counsel for Delta Air Lines for ten years. She resigned her position in 1985, to devote full time to their six children whom she homeschooled through high school.

• Dad's Irreplaceable Role
• Resolving Family Conflicts in Truth & Love
• Teaching Your Children How to Work with Godly Discipline

Paul Downer is a coauthor of From Hell To Eternity: Life After Trauma. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and training events around the U.S. and appears with Phil on their daily one-minute broadcast, A Discipleship Moment, which airs on over 550 stations. Paul speaks on discipleship, culture, men’s issues, family relationships, and reaching twenty-somethings. He offers parents and children insight into what it takes to respond to the conflicts of life in a way that enables a family to overcome differences and relational wounds in order to experience healthy Christ-centered relationships.

Paul earned his B.S. and B.A. at Bryan College where he studied as a Presidential Scholar. He is currently pursuing a Master of Christian Studies degree from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Paul has been a mentor for young men in their teens and twenties for ten years and has been speaking at national men’s conferences and retreats for twelve years.

• Homeschooling the Strong-Willed Child—I Am One!
• Media & Entertainment—Monitoring What Influences Your Family

Todd Wilson, author of Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe, Help! I’m Married to a Homeschooling Mom, and The Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons, is a dad, writer, conference speaker, and former pastor. Todd’s humor and gut-honest realness have made him a favorite speaker at homeschool conventions across the country. As founder of Familyman Ministries, his passion and mission are to remind dads and moms of what is most important through seminars, books that encourage parents, and a weekly e-mail for dads. Todd and his wife Debbie homeschool their eight children in northern Indiana and travel around America in the Familyman Mobile. You can visit Familyman Ministries at www.familymanweb.com

• Irresistable Parenting
• What To Do When Your Plan Doesn't Go According to Plan
• Choosing the Hard Things

Harold and Rebekah Mally and their three children, Sarah (age 34), Stephen (age 28), and Grace (age 24), lead a ministry called Tomorrow’s Forefathers with the primary emphasis of encouraging and strengthening other families in the Lord. The Mallys began homeschooling in 1990. In 2002 Sarah, Stephen, and Grace co-authored the book, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. Sarah is the founder of Bright Lights, a discipleship ministry to equip young ladies to live fully for the Lord. Today there are more than five hundred Bright Lights groups worldwide. In 2006 Sarah published the book Before You Meet Prince Charming. Last year Grace published Will Our Generation Speak? A Call to Be Bold with the Gospel. As our world grows increasingly dark, the Mallys pray that the Lord will raise up mighty warriors for His kingdom in this generation. (www.tomorrowsforefathers.com)

• Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
• Credentials Without College
• Raising Pure Daughters in a Generation of Darkness
• Knights, Maidens & Dragons

Diana Waring, author of Beyond Survival, Reaping the Harvest and the History Revealed curriculum published by AiG, discovered years ago that “the key to education is relationship.”Beginning in the early ‘80s, Diana homeschooled her children through high-school—providing the real life opportunities to learn how kids learn. Mentored by educators whose focus was to honor Him who created all learners, and with an international background (born in Germany, university degree in French, lifelong student of world history), Diana has been enthusiastically received by audiences on four continents.

• History Via the Scenic Route
• Box-Free Living
• The Key to Education Is Relationship
• Got Teens???

Barb Shelton’s heartfelt delight is to refresh homeschoolers and help equip them to grasp and implement God’s vision for the true education of their children. She and her husband Dave homeschooled their three children for twenty-six years, ending when the youngest graduated in 2006, and there was no one left to homeschool! She has written eight books for homeschoolers and developed seven CDs, all of which are on practical and encouraging topics that are vital to all homeschoolers, no matter what stage they are in. Combining humor and vulnerability on a foundation of Scripture, Barb’s message has helped countless parents recover from, or avoid, the pitfalls resulting from listening to the many loud voices of the world. She inspires us to draw close to God and hear His voice alone for our unique children.

• The Heart of True Education
• Preparing Heart, Soul 'n' Guts NOW to Homeschool to the END!!
• Creative, Flexible Home Organizing
• Real-Life Homeschool Learning & Organizing for Younger Children
• Connecting Hearts—Now & Forever

Dennis Gundersen is owner of Grace and Truth Books and is a frequent convention speaker. Dennis has served as a senior pastor in Tulsa for twenty-six years. He and his wife Naomi have four adult sons and four grandchildren. (www.graceandtruthbooks.com)

• Deadly Weaknesses in the Strong Man: Moral Lessons Fathers Must Teach Their Sons
• Don't Scare the Children! Homeschooling & the Fear of the Lord
• Courtship & Dating—So What's the Difference?

Joanne Calderwood is an underwhelmed mom of eight great kids, ages ten through twenty-three. She has been married to Tim for twenty-eight years. As a former classroom teacher, Joanne had a meltdown when trying to homeschool her first four children with the classroom mentality. Then she began to allow her older children to work independently, and the results were so amazing that she developed a system of education which incorporates the tenets of self-learning and mastery. Results include perfect and near-perfect SAT scorers, and four teens (so far) who have gone on to attend their first-choice colleges on full scholarships! Joanne is the author of The Self-Propelled Advantage, I’m the Mom; I Don’t Have to Know Calculus, and The Homeschool Student Planners. She is a columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine and is the heart behind www.URtheMom.com. The Calderwoods reside in Normandy, Tennessee, where they earnestly try not to disturb the neighbors.

• Self Teaching 101, Part 1 & 2
• If Mary & Martha Had Been Homeschool Moms
• Top 10 Things I Wish I Had Known As A Young Homeschool Mom

Susan Chrisman and her husband, Jerry, began their journey in home education in 1985. The Chrismans have five children and three grandsons. They have served on the board of trustees for the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators’ Consociation since 2001. Jerry is currently serving OCHEC as president, and Susan is the editor-in-chief of publications. She also co-directs the Oklahoma City Charlotte Mason Discussion Group, and has published homeschool resources which are available on her website at www.lifelonglearnersonline.com. Susan founded a resource service called Lifelong Learners to encourage parents (especially moms) in the training and education of their children. She speaks to support groups, at moms’ retreats, and at homeschool conventions, and she mentors moms, helping them to be intentional about their relationships and responsibilities.

• OCHEC 101: A Home Educator's Guide to Scheduling & Planning
• Preschool & Kindergarten Education at Home, Part 1 & Part 2

Kim and her husband Greg began homeschooling fifteen years ago because they desired for their children to be a vital part of their overseas missions work. God used their initial choice of convenience and flexibility to hook their hearts, and eventually they began to see that homeschooling was their lifetime “call.”

The Fords have a passion for helping families pass the baton of faith successfully to their children. Kim desires to help homeschool parents gain vision for doing what they do: “It’s not ease, nor convenience that motivates you to finish the course. It is vision.Our children’s hearts are seed-beds to be equipped and challenged to be His light into the everyman’s world.

Kim is honored to serve in leadership with Classical Conversation. She also works with her husband reaching unreached nations. But her greatest joy is the full-time leadership development of their five children—Hudson, Graham, Elliot, William and Claire.

• Homeschooling Your Teen: Your Finest Hour

Cindy Nicolai is a retired homeschool mom who just cannot seem to get away from the call and conviction of parents training and discipling their children at home. Having trained her children at home from early childhood through high school, Cindy now has a passion for helping other moms in this sometimes overwhelming journey of educating their children at home while still running a household and maintaining sanity. With an empty nest, Cindy finds herself fulfilling many roles, some old and some new, but her favorite role is that of Grammy. That role is what drives her to stay involved in the homeschool community and to continue working to preserve the freedoms we now enjoy for future generations. You can contact Cindy at canicolai@gmail.com.

• OCHEC 102: Choosing Curriculum
• OCHEC 104: Taming the Beast of Recordkeeping

Tracy Phillips is wife to Patrick and mom to nine. She is a thirteen-year homeschooling veteran, graduating her oldest child this year, while potty training her youngest. Having decided to homeschool when she was still in junior high, Tracy earned her BA in Family and Child Development...her “mommy” degree. Tracy and Patrick have served on the OCHEC Board of Trustees since 2005. Before that, Tracy was the leader of a successful homeschool support group in Oklahoma City. Tracy’s gifts include organization skills and providing encouragement to other moms while keeping it real.

• OCHEC 103: Philosophies of Education
• Fostering Hope
• Organize THIS!