Today we’re joined by Dr. Mary Hood who shares with us about the history of homeschooling, as well as her thoughts on college.

Mary Hood, Ph.D., along with her husband, Roy, homeschooled their five children all the way from kindergarten through college entrance. All of them are now adults, and have made a successful transition to college and beyond.

Beginning in the 1980s, she has spoken and written widely on a variety of topics concerning home education throughout the United States and overseas. She has a Ph.D. in education, and is the director of The Association of Relaxed Christian Home Educators, aka, “ARCHERS for the Lord” (Reference Psalm 127), which is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization. She has also been a regular columnist for “The Old Schoolhouse Magazine”.

Mary is the author of such books as The Relaxed Home School, The Joyful Home Schooler, and The Enthusiastic Home Schooler.

Now in her sixties, Mary continues to write and speak widely on issues pertaining to homeschooling, as well as the wider field of education. Her organization has just re-opened The Relaxed Home Schooler’s Resource Center in Cherokee County, GA, where she will serve as director and teach several classes for teens. In addition, the organization is opening an actual primary school across the street in fall, 2017.For more info, visit the website, www.archersforthelord.org. (Bio from http://archersforthelord.org/_speaker.php).

We ask Dr. Hood the following questions:

• What prompted you to homeschool back in the early days of homeschooling?
• I noticed all of your children attended college. With our current homeschooling culture and so many opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures (especially because of the internet), do you think college is as necessary today as it used to be?
• Today it is easy to rely on boxed curriculum with everything planned and broken down into weeks and days. It takes a lot of the faith aspect of using real life experience as part of the educational process out of the equation because it’s easy to simply rely on the curriculum. In my talk at the NCHE conference, I made the statement that homeschooling in faith was “easy” for the homeschool pioneers because the very act of homeschooling before it was legal was a huge act of faith. Tell us about the days before vendor halls and your perspective on this.
• Tell us what you are currently doing with your organization, ARCHERS for the Lord. How do you see the resource center fitting into a relaxed homeschooling model?

And that’s Life as a Lifeschooler! Subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Hope you’ll join us next time!

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