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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.

Sonya is a Catholic Homeschooling mother of a large family. She is also the webmaster of RC History.

I am Susan Kalis, a longtime homeschooling mother of 7 children aged 14 years to 4 months, presently living in Colorado. My husband, Joe, and I have been married for more than 15 years and have lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place and country to country as his job has demanded. We are both engineers with master's degrees, although I gave up engineering and turned to university teaching when our first child was born. I gave up university teaching also when our fourth child was born; it was either that or give up clean clothes.

We use an eclectic approach in our homeschool, with the Catholic Faith as the key to everything. Our school year centers around the liturgical year, and our methods range from Montessori to a "living books" approach with classical insights. No one method fits us perfectly, yet each has something valuable to offer. Each year is different from the one before, and I enjoy trying new approaches and new books.

I am hopelessly addicted to reading and collecting good books, and I enjoy sharing that passion with our children. This hobby has made moving around the world somewhat more difficult, but it will have been worth the effort if our children grow up thinking that books are better than furniture.

My name is Willa Jean Ryan and I have been married to my husband Kevin Ryan since 1985. We met in Oregon, where I got my BA in English Literature and he got his BS in Computer Science. He now designs and programs computer games and has been able to work at home since about 1991. We have a small Christian game business which is located at www.topm.com.

We have at present six living children: Liam Mayo born in 1986. Brendan Calder born in 1988, Clare Francis born 1990, Sean Timothy born 1993, Kieron Thomas born 1996, and Aidan Michael born 1999. They are all boys except for Clare! I was confirmed into the Catholic faith the Easter after Clare was born, but I owe my Evangelical parents an immense debt of gratitude for raising me to seek after the truth and after God.

Liam went to parochial school for the first two grades, but my husband kept talking to me about homeschooling and finally, after an illness of my fourth child Sean and hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I was able to summon the courage to take such a step. We have homeschooled since 1993, through all kinds of life events -- moves to a different state, the loss of our little twins before birth, and the illness of our youngest Aidan, who received a liver transplant at age 3 months on the Feast of St Therese. We used Seton at first, but switched to Kolbe Academy in early 1995. We live in the Sierra Mountains of California, well above the snow line, where we are able to see plenty of deer and coyote, and once a bear.

Willa is also the moderator of the Catholic Classical Education e-mail list.