Gifted Homeschoolers Forum

Advisors and Staff

- Tara Hernandez, Membership Director
- When Tara Hernandez isn't hard at work taking care of GHF members, her days are filled homeschooling her two children, training the family dog, and occasionally reading email. In her free time (what's that?) she knits, spins yarn, reads, and does art and science projects with the kids. She also enjoys virtual 'dates' with her husband in the World of Warcraft.
- Annette Holzman, Financial Manager
- Annette Holzman of Coast-to-Coast Tax Service is responsible for GHF finances. She has homeschooled two of her elementary aged children through a local charter school the past five years. Currently, all three of her children are in a private religious school, giving Ms. Holzman time to reconnect in the financial world. When she's not driving the kids around for school, piano, and horseback riding, she enjoys reading children's literature and training to be a Suzuki piano teacher.
- Sarah Wilson, Editor-in-Chief, GHF Press; Newsletter Editor; Advertising Coordinator
- A lover of words and learning, Sarah Wilson enjoys reading, writing, and editing. She homeschools her two boys, while driving to piano, chess, storytimes, park days, and the like. In addition to her work with the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, Ms. Wilson is the former editor of California HomeSchooler, the bimonthly magazine of HSC, as well as Committee Chairman for her son's cub scout pack, the San Jose Homeschooling Examiner, and a freelance editor. When not working with words or volunteering, she loves traveling, teaching ballroom dance, and hanging out with her family. Sarah recently took on the role of GHF Press Editor in Chief. She recently edited Making the Choice: When Typical School Doesn't Work for Your Atypical Child, by Corin Barsily Goodwin and Mika Gustavson, and is now working on a new book by Wes Beach on teens transitioning to the adult world.
- Mika Gustavson, Co-Chair, Professional Outreach Committee
- Mika Gustavson, MA, MFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in helping the gifted to thrive. A certifed SENG-Model Parent Group Facilitator, she leads groups for parents of gifted, twice-exceptional, anxious and intense children, as well as providing trainings and presentations for parents, educators and other professionals on issues related to giftedness. Her articles have been published in the 2e Newsletter, the NAGC UK magazine, NAGC (US) Parenting for High Potential, California Association for the Gifted's Gifted Ed Communicator, Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, and the California Homeschooler. She is active on the Gifted Homeschooler Forum's Professional Outreach Committee, and is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the California Association for the Gifted and MENSA. She also serves on the Community Advisory Board for Camp Summit. In her private practice, Ms. Gustavson works with individuals and families in the Silicon Valley, where she lives with her husband, son, two cats, two guinea pigs and a dog, some gifted, some 2e and all beloved. She is excited about her newly released book, Making the Choice: When Typical School Doesn't Work for Your Atypical Child, with co-author Corin Barsily Goodwin.
- Wes Beach, Teen Advisor
- Wes Beach has been helping young people launch into adulthood for over 30 years. He operates Beach High School, a private school that assists homeschoolers and other teens in taking control of their education, and consults for the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. He has written several articles on homeschooling into college, as well as a book on post-high school opportunities. In 2005, Mr. Beach received a well-deserved Distinguished Service Award from California Association for the Gifted (CAG). He has served on the Board of Directors of the HomeSchool Association of California (HSC) and is also HSC's Teen Advisor.
- Stephanie Hood, Charter/ISP Advisor
- Stephanie Hood homeschooled her two children through middle school and high school. She now teaches math classes to homeschoolers. Ms. Hood has worked as a district GATE administrator and a classroom teacher in both public and Christian schools. She has also served on the Boards of California Association for the Gifted (CAG) and Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (GHF).
- Madeline Goodwin, Presentation Assistant
- Madeline Goodwin has been homeschooled all of her life. As a young teenager, she began taking classes at Southern Oregon University, where she will enroll full-time as a fifteen-year-old sophomore in Fall 2011. She has begun a dual major in Environmental Science and Field Biology, and she works as a Research Assistant in the ES Department. She also enjoys writing fiction, and has had her poetry published in an anthology. Miss Goodwin spent a year as an intern for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), with a special interest in environmental policy, and a semester as Secretary for the Josephine County Renewable Energy Task Force. She completed Junior Volunteer training at Wildlife Images, a rescue and rehabilitation facility for wild animals of all kinds. She recently provided testimony for the OR state legislature on gifted education and dual enrollment.
- Cyd Dawson-Smith, Webmaster
- Cyd Dawson-Smith is a part-time professional web designer, a part-time adjunct instructor, and a full-time homeschooling mom of one. Her outside pursuits are decidedly geeky, including an inordinate amount of reading about science, watching science fiction television, coaching a youth track and field team, coaching a homeschool Odyssey of the Mind team, and otherwise trying to keep up with her gifted girl in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.
- Carissa Leventis-Cox - Regional Contacts Coordinator
- Carissa Leventis-Cox is a full time homeschool mother to a creative five year old. The path to homeschooling began because of a clear need to provide an individualized and asynchronous education for her son. This effort led her to help create various homeschool preschool co-ops, and in becoming the regional representative for Gifted Homeschoolers Forum in South Carolina in 2010, she has organized playdates and interviews for her local members with a Child Psychiatrist, a Public School Gifted Program Director, and even a debate with government representatives on education in her state. Her son's allergies led Carissa to improve her family's nutrition and to write a blog Mama in the Kitchen... and she ain't cookin'! ; with these efforts recognized by Glamomamas, Healthy Child Healthy World, Holistic Moms Network, Mothers Acting Up, PETA and Power of Moms. She hopes she can contribute more to the GHF community through her role as Regional Contacts Coordinator.