"Latter-day Saint Home Educators? What's that?"
Latter-day Saint Home Educators is an all-volunteer non-profit that is organized and run by actively homeschooling parents and youth. We are not affiliated with any schools, businesses, or curriculum providers, and we do not endorse any single educational philosophy. We are, as one attendee said, “at the intersection where homeschooling meets LDS,” as our conferences and other resources focus mainly on education and living the gospel in our homes.
Our Mission
Our mission is to support, strengthen and inspire Latter-day Saint families in home-centered education.
Our Vision
Our vision is to become a central, common resource for training and support for all Latter-day Saint homeschooling families across North America and the world, wherever Internet is available.
LDSHE is new and fresh every year, however, it really has been around in one form or another since 1994 and has also been known by several different names. It has always been an all-volunteer organization staffed by active home educators, with the conference focus being on education in LDS homes.
Since 2004 annual conferences have been held, including a youth conference. From 2005 to 2011 it was an S-corporation with the name of Latter-day Saint Eastern Home Educators. In 2011 the name was changed to Latter-day Saint Home Educators and the process was begun to apply for 501(c)(3) status, which was granted in 2014.
An Audio Library was added to the website in 2013, and a second annual conference was added in July of 2016, which has been held in Utah.
LDSHE is neither sponsored nor endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, we strive to assure that the religious doctrines and principles taught in classes at our conferences align with the official teachings of the church.
We sometimes invite presenters of other faiths who are experts in subject areas related to education, and they are welcome to share their own faith beliefs in the context of building an inter-faith community, as long as they are respectful to the beliefs of others.
LDSHE is an all-volunteer organization, so you’ve asked our favorite question! Youth and adults, men and women, everyone is welcome to volunteer. We need help planning the conferences, running the conferences, and editing the class recordings for the Audio Library after the conferences, plus year-round things like marketing, accounting, and creating graphics.
If you would like to join our volunteer teams (it’s fun!) please fill out the form on this page. Or use the Contact Us form to ask any questions.
You can also help by doing any/all of the following:
Follow us on Facebook and share conference news/inspirational messages with your friends. Help others come to know of the amazing resources LDSHE offers! facebook.com/ldshe
Donate to support LDSHE and Latter-day Saint homeschooling families
Conference Questions
For almost 20 years, LDSHE has hosted annual conferences for adults and youth. These unique conferences give LDS homeschoolers the opportunity to gather and celebrate their mutual love of the gospel, life-long learning, and home-centered education. Attendees report that the conferences are the highlight of their school year—for both the youth and the parents—and that they always feel uplifted, encouraged, and strengthened by their participation.
The Home Education Conference (for adults) and the Youth Education Conference are held simultaneously. All classes and activities are focused on increasing attendees’ knowledge, connection to each other, and ability to succeed in homeschooling.
Almost immediately after conference ends—and sometimes even before then—our conference teams start planning the next year’s events! They prayerfully consider the needs of LDS homeschoolers and then set out finding speakers whose unique educations and life experiences qualify them to share educational messages with our attendees. Every year, LDSHE features a balanced mix of skilled speakers, professional educators, and amazing homeschooling moms and dads who are in the trenches and teach with knowledge borne of hands-on experience.
LDSHE leadership teams are keenly aware of the financial situation of our attendees. After all, we are homeschoolers too, most of whom operate under single-income budget restraints. LDSHE has two financial priorities as we set the prices for the conferences: (1) remain fiscally responsible to ensure that LDSHE can continue to host conferences for decades to come and (2) set our prices as low as possible so that as many people as possible can attend.
We are proud of the unique homeschool conference experience we offer! LDSHE families agree—they get a great “bang for their buck.”
Your LDSHE registration includes three days full of classes, snack and game time for youth, and evening events. Adult registrations include a tote bag and guidebook. Youth registrations include a knapsack, guidebook, snacks, and a T-shirt.
Guidebooks are NOT guaranteed for those registering after the dates listed on each conference event registration page. Youth registrations must be accompanied by parent registrations.
Our attendees overwhelmingly agree that the one thing you can always expect to find at LDSHE is connection. You are in for three inspirational days of connecting with ideas, motivation and encouragement, and amazing fellow LDS homeschoolers.
Each day’s schedule is filled with classes on a wide variety of homeschooling topics. You’ll learn from “mentor moms and dads,” educational professionals, counselors, subject area experts, etc.
Each evening, you may attend family activities (youth talent show, family dance, graduation) or connect with other homeschooling parents in the “Mentor Mom Chat Room,” where people gather to share ideas, discuss what they learned throughout the day, and just enjoy meeting new people.
If a venue cancels our conference, registered attendees will receive a refund (minus credit card fees–usually 3%). If the conference is cancelled after we have ordered all of our registration supplies (T-shirts, totes, Guidebooks, etc.) we will deduct $15 from each registration refund that we send out.
LDSHE Conferences are planned by actively homeschooling youth, and are focused on getting a great education. We do have classes on gospel topics, mission and life prep, etc. But the majority are education-related.
At LDSHE, youth are required to abide by the standards set forth in For the Strength of Youth. We foster an atmosphere of inclusion and fun and adhere to the principles of the gospel. But we are not sponsored by the Church.
In a nutshell, youth can expect to have three days filled from start to finish with facts, fun, and friends. Their days will be spent in classes (on topics like art, leadership, writing college application essays, martial arts, and entrepreneurship), in activities (games, snacks, and team-building experiences), and in evening events (talent show, family dance, and graduation).
They will mingle with and be embraced by youth who really “get” them because they share the unique qualities of being fellow LDS youth who learn primarily at home.
During each class time slot, youth will choose which of three or four classes to attend. You can help prepare your youth for a great LDSHE experience by reviewing the schedules online (or in their printed guidebook after you arrive at LDSHE) and helping them choose classes that will best fit their interests.
Parents are responsible for their youth. LDSHE chaperones all classes and daytime activities, but we do not chaperone individual youth. Each youth is jointly responsible with their parents to ensure their individual behavior is appropriate.
East Youth Education Conference: Youth must be ages 12 to 18 during the dates of the conference.
West Youth Education Conference: Youth turning 12 during the calendar year (though they may be still 11 at the time) are invited to attend this conference–it has so far been much smaller than its older sister conference in the East, which allows us more flexibility.
For safety and liability reasons, we ask that a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian be on-site at the conference center at all times. Our conferences are for youth and adults, and each youth registration should be accompanied by an adult registration.
We know youth love to bring friends along, but our volunteer teams are not able to individually chaperone youth–we chaperone activities, not individual youth, who by policy must return to their on-site parent in case of problems (medical needs, misbehavior). We ask that attendees only bring their own children with them to the conference.
Audio Library Questions
No! Our Audio Library is now a free resource!
If we have a handout and a visual presentation (PDF format) for a class, they will show up under the class description on the class page. Here is an example of a class that has both.
The visual presentation may be opened in a browser window, and from there can be downloaded to your device if you prefer (by clicking the download icon in the top right corner of the screen).
