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LOCAL WOMAN STARTS WEB SITE TO HELP OTHERS LIKE HER Stafford County woman is 'TheHomeSchoolMom' in the virtual world of cyberspace Date published: 3/8/2005 By CATHY DYSON HEN MARY ANN Kelley started home schooling five years ago, she didn't know what resources were out there. She joined an online group and asked around. Other home-school mothers shared some great tips about types of curriculum and where to find free samples of educational products. But Kelley never found a single Web site that contained all the information she had gathered in a few e-mails. So, the Stafford County woman started one--and became "TheHomeSchoolMom" in the virtual world of cyberspace. Kelley, 38, started a Web site by the same name and created a monthly newsletter. At first, most of the subscribers were family members or fellow home-schoolers in the Fredericksburg area. These days, her newsletter is viewed by more than 9,000 people worldwide. Most are in North America, but a few are military families stationed overseas. She doesn't charge for her service, but she does sell ads in the newsletter--as long as the products are educational. "TheHomeSchoolMom" is no longer the only home-schooling resource on the Web. A Google search produces more than a million links with some sort of reference to those who teach their children at home. But it does stand out, for both its content and design, said Ron Thompson, a regular advertiser. His Florida company publishes a magazine called "Learning Through History." For two years, he's advertised regularly in Kelley's newsletter and has gotten good results. He's tried--and dropped--a lot of similar Web sites in that same time. "Mary Ann's is consistently the most successful one for us," said Thompson of Classic Education Inc. in Naples. "She just does a real professional job of putting it together, and she understands what a home-schooling mom needs." A believer of child-led learningKelley doesn't consider herself an authority on home schooling. Far from it. But she does know a thing or two about finding resources online. She's used a lot of them to develop a curriculum for her own children: Michaela, 9, and Faith, who turns 7 tomorrow. Kelley prefers to give them the basics, then let the girls explore topics that interest them. That style is known as child-led learning.
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