Julie Bogart
Author & creator of Brave Writer
Julie Bogart is known for her common sense writing, critical thinking and home education advice. Julie’s the creator of the award-winning, innovative online writing program called Brave Writer serving 191 countries and hundreds of thousands of families. Her highly anticipated new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing, came out in April 2025.
Julie is also the author of the popular books The Brave Learner and Raising Critical Thinkers. Her Substack, podcast, and social media are wildly popular sources of support to weary, well-intentioned parents.
Julie home educated her five children who are now adults and she has four grandchildren. Today, Julie lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Alisha Brignall
INSPIRED Founding Director
Topic: Unlocking Potential: Homeschooling for Diverse Learners
Alisha is a passionate advocate for homeschooling and individualized learning options. Frustrated with the lack of individualized support for her neurodivergent child, she started homeschooling 15 years ago. She follows an eclectic homeschooling approach, including utilizing shared responsibility programming.
Noticing a need for more advocacy for home education students, she completed her B.Ed in 2020, while Inspired went on hiatus due to the pandemic. She joined ursa as a Home Education Manager, and recently completed her M.Ed with a focus on home education.
Alisha is excited to bring the conference out from its slumber with hopes of Inspiring a new community of home educators.
Michelle Goulet
INSPIRED Co-conspirator
Topic: The Many Ways of Achieving High School Success in Home Education
Michelle Goulet is an Early Childhood Educator, forest school practitioner and post-secondary instructor who has been homeschooling her two neurodivergent children for 13 years. She is a strong advocate for meeting the individual needs of children for learning through play, creativity, and building relationships with others (including the natural world). Learning through experiences, reflection and travel (adventure) has allowed her to align her families educational goals with their capacity and needs. A self-identified education nerd, she achieved her Masters in Environmental Education and Communication in 2022 and continues to build on an unschooling curriculum while navigating high school with her teens.
Lyndsay Prasad
Topic: Sprinkle Some Sparkle: Real-life ways to add Curiosity, Creativity, and Flexibility to Everyday Learning.
Lyndsay is in her eighth year of homeschooling, with over 25 years of experience in teaching roles ranging from K–12 to post-secondary. She holds a B.A., a B.Ed., and an M.A. in Writing, and has also worked as a Home Education Facilitator, where she discovered the joy of supporting families in their homeschool journeys while helping them discover meaningful, well-suited educational resources.
Her love for researching curriculum and finding high-quality academic materials inspired her to co-found The Paper Cabin, a place dedicated to offering practical tools, thoughtful resource suggestions, and encouragement for creating rich and engaging learning experiences
She’s happiest with a hot coffee in hand, a good book within reach, and the chance to cheer on her kids at their sports.
Dianne Liwanag
Dianne hopes that the knowledge gained from the Inspired Calgary Secular Conference will empower participants with confidence and ideas to create homeschool programming that is filled with learning, growth, and creating meaningful and lasting connections.
Cash Smart for Life
Topic: Raising Financially Independent Children: A Simple System for Homeschooling Families
At CashSmartForLife, our mission is to equip parents with the tools, confidence, and systems to raise financially empowered children—starting as early as age 3. Rooted in our real-life mother-daughter journey, we teach families how to create sustainable financial legacies by mastering money together, one decision at a time. Whether you're new to managing cash flow, homeschooling, or navigating financial stress, CSFL meets you where you are and guides you step by step toward generational change. Our goal is to help parents break free from survival mode, lead by example, and prepare their children to thrive—financially and emotionally—for life.
Sonia Nding
Topic: Why and How to Bring Different Languages Alive at Home?
Sonia Nding is a conscious parenting coach and homeschooling mom of two teenagers. Born in France to a multicultural family with Vietnamese, Indian, and Caribbean roots, and now living in Canada, she is also a multilingual mom raising her children across cultures. With experience in both alternative private schooling and homeschooling, her journey is about learning together while finding balance between heritage and everyday life. She now supports parents who want to raise confident, rooted kids who can thrive across worlds.
- Contact https://atransformedmother.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sonianding/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/atransformedmother
Sue Music
Topic: Making It Work: Budgeting and Income Strategies for Homeschool Families
Once a driven, corporate, “boss babe”, climbing the ladder of success, Sue NEVER imagined trading in boardrooms and business trips for lesson plans and library cards. Yet, when life took an unexpected turn, she embraced the role of becoming a homeschooling mom to her three children—and hasn’t looked back.
Now, after seven years of homeschooling, she brings her business mindset to the world of home education; blending creativity, strategy, and financial wisdom to make it work. Her mission is to lean into abundance over scarcity, even after giving up a significant full-time income, and to inspire other families that homeschooling can be both sustainable and deeply rewarding.
Sue leads interactive, workshop-style presentations that mix storytelling, practical tools, and group discussion.
Participants leave her sessions encouraged, empowered, and ready to take action in their own homes; to reimagine what “success” looks like; not just climbing a career ladder, but building a rich, abundant life rooted in family, freedom, and purpose.
Carley Jackson
Topic: Sprinkle Some Sparkle: Real-life ways to add Curiosity, Creativity, and Flexibility to Everyday Learning.
Carley is in her ninth year of homeschooling and describes her approach as an academic–eclectic mix. She holds a Bachelor of Education and a Certificate of Extended Studies in Inclusive Education, bringing over 21 years of teaching experience to her work with families. Carley’s background includes time as a public school elementary teacher, running a podschool during the pandemic, and more recently, serving as a Home Education Facilitator.
Her passion for making math accessible to all learners—recognizing that every student learns differently—along with her commitment to cultural and emotional literacy and the power of community, inspired her to co-found The Paper Cabin Through this work, she helps homeschooling families find high-quality academic resources they can trust and tools that add meaningful value to their learning journey.
Outside of teaching, Carley enjoys spending time with her family, diving into new hobbies, and reading just about anything she can get her hands on.
Fightress Aaron, MBA, MS, LPC, NCC
Topic: It Starts with You: Mental Wellness as the Core of Homeschool Success
Fightress Aaron, MBA, MS, LPC, NCC, is a homeschooling and worldschooling mom of three and a wife of 15 years. Parenting neurodivergent children with diverse learning and life needs has given her a deep understanding of the daily accommodations families make while pursuing both education and well-being.
She is also a licensed professional counselor, clinical director, and founder of New Beginnings Counseling, a group practice supporting women with trauma, depression, and anxiety, as well as the creator of Wellness Oasis Pike Road, a mental wellness coworking space designed to support professionals and entrepreneurs.
As a neurodivergent woman who has personally navigated her own mental health challenges including postpartum depression, anxiety, and burnout, Fightress blends professional expertise with lived experience. Her workshops provide practical, trauma-informed strategies that equip parents to care for their mental health, strengthen partnerships, and create a thriving learning environment where every family member is supported.
Christina Pickles
Topic: Nature Connections: A Walking Curriculum
Christina Pickles is an outdoor play advocate and founder of Get Outside and Play, an organization that ensures more outdoor play in early learning and care settings, schools, and communities through events, presentations, workshops, and consulting.
She has been supporting outdoor experiences with people of all ages for 20+ years and 8 years ago, she pivoted her work to put play at the centre of everything she does. She believe play is the best way children (and adults) connect with the land, their communities, their bodies and each other.
She lives along the Bow River and Calgary Alberta and can be found walking her dog Clover or chasing after her adventurous 11 year old.
Golda David
Topic: Why homeschool? Ways to meet the challenges of Home Education
Creator of "Demystifying Education: Helping people navigate the school system" www.demystifyingeducation.com. Unschooling mom to a 16 year old son, long time educator and now home education facilitator. A strong advocate for forms of alternative and personalized education as well as strongly driven towards innovation and deep thinking about the whys of what and when we 'teach'.
Karlee Zelmer
Topic: Creative Writing with Loose Parts
Karlee Zelmer is a dedicated mother of a child with dyslexia and dysgraphia, which fuels her passion for advocating for children with diverse learning needs. As an Assistant Principal and early childhood instructor at Bow Valley College, she brings over two decades of experience in teaching, educational leadership and a deep understanding of child development. Karlee also served as the Vice President of the Calgary Reggio Association, where she championed the Reggio Emilia approach, emphasizing creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration in all learning environments. Her work is driven by her commitment to fostering inclusive and nurturing educational spaces for all students. She recently completed her Master's in Education with a focus on transformative learning and innovation.
Bani Puri
Topic: Supporting Neurodivergent students at Home
Since joining Foothills Academy in 2007 after teaching internationally and locally, Bani has been passionate about supporting students with learning disabilities, using creative teaching, strategic leadership, and a strength-based approach to help them thrive. Beyond the classroom, Bani loves mentoring, running school clubs, and engaging with the community—because learning happens everywhere!
As the Manager of Community Education and Professional Development at Foothills Academy, Bani is passionate about creating an inclusive and collaborative learning environment that empowers students, supports educators, and fosters strong community connections, all while prioritizing the needs of neurodivergent students.