Reviews by Contributor

Z.C.

Z.C. is a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, wife and homeschooling mother of three boys (7, 5, and 2) and a baby girl. She is chapter coordinator of the local TORCH homeschooling support group.
(as of ~2000)

Jeff Vehige

Jeff Vehige (rhymes with “Peggy”) is a stay-at-home dad who is homeschooling his four children who range in age from newborn to seven. He went to public school his whole life, hated almost every minute of it, and upon graduation set out for Los Angeles to become a rock star. He did not succeed in this goal. Upon returning home, he began to participate in a young-adult parish Bible study where he not only developed a voracious interest in theology but also met his future wife. However, before he would pursue a degree or a relationship, he entered a monastery for a year to discern a vocation to the priesthood. Eventually, he would earn a B.A. and an M.A. in theology from the University of Dallas—a small Catholic liberal arts university in Irving, Texas—and marry his Bible-study sweetheart. His ultimate goal of earning a Ph.D. in theology and teaching on the college level fell by the wayside with the birth of his second child and only daughter. After enrolling his oldest son into kindergarten, he realized that in good conscience he could not send his children to public school without first trying to homeschool them. Though the first year was difficult, he has settled into the role as his children’s private tutor and, much to his surprise, has found in it great delight and fulfillment

You can read what he thinks about the Church, literature, and contemporary culture at a team blog, Thursday Night Gumbo.

He also runs the St. Peter Canisius Apostolate.

Maureen Wittmann

Maureen Wittmann is the mother of seven children with many years of homeschool experience. She is the author of For the Love of Literature (Ecce Homo Press) and co-editor/author of the Catholic Homeschool Companion (Sophia Institute Press) and the Catholic Homeschool Treasury (currently out-of-print) and writes and speaks regularly on homeschooling.

You can visit her blog here.

Robert Gotcher

Photo of Robert

Robert Gotcher is Associate Professor of Systematic Studies (theology) at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Franklin, Wisconsin and have been homeschooling their seven children for 12 years. They use a modified form of the classic liberal education of Laura Berquist's Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum.

He works closely with the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education to promote the liberal arts among primary and secondary school teachers. He is a speaker for the Center for Life Principles founded by Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J..

Dr. Gotcher graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 with a B.A. in the Program of Liberal Studies. He received his M.A. in Theology of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul in 1991 and his Ph.D. from Marquette University in 2002. In his adult life he has done everything from volunteering with the poor in Appalachia, to religious education and youth ministry, to desktop publishing and computer related responsibilities at a law firm.

He now teaches introduction to theology, God three and one, theological anthropology, human life, life principles and human sexuality to seminarians at Sacred Heart and has given presentations on Vatican II, the encyclicals of the pope, social justice and the theology of the body. His publications focus on family issues, lay spirituality and issues related to the Second Vatican Council. He is involved in the secular Franciscan order, home schooling, and pro-life activities in the Milwaukee area and nationally.

Robert contributes to two other blogs: Classic Catholic and the Heart, Mind and Strength Weblog of the Pastoral Solutions Institute.

K.V.

K.V. is just finishing up her first year of homeschooling. She has four children - ages 7, 4, 18 mo. and a baby due this summer!
(year 2002)

M.N.

M.N. and her husband "live with our three kids in Denver, Colorado. We are only one year into homeschooling, but are loving it. We wish that poor DS-Second grade (Joey, turned seven yesterday) had never gone to school. He did kindergarten with a fabulous teacher, but his first grade teacher was an unreal nightmare. We decided he was better off back home with me again. We are all better for it. I teach while balancing the needs of a toddler and a new baby (aged five months)."

Mary Biever

"I am a homeschooling mother of a two, ages four and six. In my spare time, I help my husband with a small business, edit our homeschool group's newsletter and teach computer classes part-time at night."
(as of ~2000)