Mentor Moms
If you are new to homeschooling or could use some advice or encouragement, CHECH can put you in touch with our Mentor Moms.
Available only to Members!
Meet our Mentor Moms
Mentor Moms volunteer their time to meet with Catholic homeschoolers to provide support. Although every homeschooling family is unique, Mentor Moms have many years of experience weathering storms, overcoming obstacles, and sharing the joys of learning with their children. They have graciously offered to share what they have learned with others.
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Enthusiastic about her faith and education. Married to David for 32 years, and mother to four adult children, all of whom graduated homeschool successfully and graduated university, and are all currently working in their field of studies. Being true to a love of learning, some of her children have decided to continue their studies toward their masters and doctorate degrees.
Monica homeschooled her children for eighteen years, and during that time she also gave her time to other Catholic homeschool groups, coops, and committees to help ensure that new families could find the support they needed to begin the journey of homeschooling their children. She served as treasurer and chair on the Apostolate of Roman Catholic Homeschoolers, which at the time provided a network of other homeschool groups to work together, share ideas and to hold conferences to offer resources. She had the privilege to teach at Aquinas homeschool coop, and Holy House. She is now a grandmother to a wonderful toddler, who also shares her love of nature and discovery. She looks forward to sharing what she has learned along the way, and to helping others navigate through their homeschool journey.
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I graduated from Texas A&M with degrees in Accounting and Finance. I passed the CPA exam and worked as an auditor/controller for 11 years. I’ve been married for 31 years. After the birth of my second daughter, I began staying home with my kids. We have 5 children and started homeschooling when our oldest was entering 4th grade. Our main reason for homeschooling was to reclaim our time as a family. We have done all forms of homeschooling. I love curriculum and had an eclectic approach to homeschooling. We had some who homeschooled the whole way and others who went to all or part of high school. Our youngest is a sophomore at Ole Miss Engineering.
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Mary Anne Jurica, Ph.D., OP has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a doctorate in Biological Chemistry. She is a Lay (third order) Dominican and the Formation Director for the Houston Chapter of Lay Dominicans. She is also a certified catechist for the archdiocese. She is a mom of eight children and has been a homeschool teacher since 1995.
While working as a research scientist, Mary Anne and her husband Hal discerned that it was God’s will that she change careers and become a stay-at-home mom. Desiring for her children to have a truly Catholic education, Mary Anne started homeschooling using the Seton Catholic Curriculum. She taught her children courses from preschool through high school. Nineteen years ago, she started teaching science classes for homeschooled students in a neighborhood co-op. She has been a science teacher for Holy House and currently teaches science classes for the Aquinas Program which meets at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in midtown. She also tutors students in science. Mary Anne loves teaching and, although her youngest child graduated from high school in 2021, she continues to teach science to other homeschool students.
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Joyce Mueller was born and raised in the Dallas area, studied Secondary Education with an emphasis on Math at Texas A&M University, and moved to Houston when she married Steve 38 years ago. She has seven children: 1 girl and 6 boys. When it was time for her oldest to start school, Steve wanted to try homeschooling and Joyce did not. Reluctantly she agreed to try it “for one year”. Twenty-nine years later she had homeschooled all 7 kids Kindergarten through 12th grade. As her own children grew older Joyce began teaching Jr High and High School Math classes to other homeschooled kids. She taught classes for about 10 years. She also has done some private tutoring. Now she spends a lot of her time helping with her grandchildren.
Joyce used a variety of books and methods to teach her children. She used a traditional homeschool curriculum, found individual books for some courses, participated in co-ops, and used online classes. She found through trial-and-error that the materials need to fit the child rather than fit the child to the materials. She basically stumbled, fell, got up, tried again, and heavily depended on God to get through it all.
Become a Mentor Mom
If you are an experienced homeschooler (10+ years homeschooling) and are willing to devote some time to helping others, please complete the form below and a CHECH representative will reach out to you to discuss the Mentor Mom program.