What We Are:
A no-fee support group for homeschool families in the Birmingham Area with planned activities and field trips throughout the school year. Members need only to fill out the online form in order to receive group communications.
What We Are NOT:
We are NOT a church school or cover school for homeschool families. We are sponsored by a local church school (Essential Church School) which birthed out of the needs of our group, but school membership is not required for group involvement.
Our History:
Highlands Homeschoolers began as a small group for homeschool families within Church of the Highlands, a large Birmingham area church. Families would meet weekly at a local neighborhood park for playtime with other homeschoolers and “share time” for the homeschool moms. After about a year, the group began to do other activities such as visiting a local fire station or attending a living history event at a local farm or organizing a Valentine’s Day party. It continued to grow to include families from other churches and bigger activities such as family field trips to Washington, D.C. and Williamsburg, VA.
As Highlands Homeschoolers grew to include hundreds of families, it became more independent and evolved to no longer be a “small group” of Church of the Highlands. The group has become a community support group that is maintained by its membership and the support of Essential Church School.
There has always been a loose commitment that allows busy homeschool families to be a part as it fits into their lifestyle. Some families try to attend every event, while others may only attend a few select events each semester. The age range of students is very broad with more strength in numbers for grades K-9. We are hoping to see more teen attendance in the coming years as our students continue to keep the relationships established and as we are focusing on promoting more teen-only events and activities.
Highlands Homeschoolers is continuing to grow as more individuals step up to assist with park days, mom’s nights, and group event planning. We hope to continue to not only build a stronger homeschool community in the Birmingham area, but to also begin to do more to reach the overall community through service projects and involvement in community events. We hope you will come grow with us!
About Our Coordinator:
Kristy Trent has been coordinating the events and communications for Highlands Homeschoolers for the past five years. Her passion is to see homeschool families empowered to freely educate their children and encouraged to make it through the tough times. She grew up in a pastor’s home and has been involved in Christian ministry all her life. After graduating as the valedictorian of her public high school, she attended Lee University and received a degree in music education with an educational endorsement to teach grades K-8. While at Lee, she was introduced to homeschooling, and she was very impressed by the opportunities that these students had to pursue their dreams and goals. When she and her husband, Michael, became youth pastors, they were made aware of the amount of time students dedicated to school and its activities rather than to pursuing personal goals or spiritual growth.
In California, Kristy began to homeschool her first child from the very beginning of “school years.” She was mentored and encouraged by moms who were graduating their children and had explored different methods of education. She developed her own eclectic classical style of homeschooling following much of the outline of The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. She was also mentored in ministry to women as a part of a teaching and worship ministry at her local church.
Kristy and her family moved to Colorado, and then to Kentucky where Kristy experienced a lack of homeschool community. Upon moving to Alabama, she was determined to find support and friendship. Kristy and her husband became involved in the music and small groups ministry at Church of the Highlands, and she was blessed to find wonderful friends and, most importantly, people with like vision and heart. She started to campaign for the homeschool community at the church and started a yearly community class for new homeschoolers called New to Homeschooling. In the summer of 2009, she felt strongly that she needed to establish a church school which offered freedom, both educationally and financially. She is currently the Administrator of Essential Church School.
Kristy’s family multiplied in the summer of 2010 with the birth of twins, and she now has four children, two which she homeschools for grades 3 and 7. She is a busy wife, teacher, mom, coordinator, and administrator. In spite of it all, she still enjoys helping others in their homeschool journeys.
