About Us – Our Timeline
Mary, Michael and Lennon Leppert
Our son, Lennon, never attended school. We taught him academics at home and also made sure he had the opportunity to absorb our business world and he assisted us at our later conferences and in designing ads, laying out publications, etc. Lennon took numerous private lessons in a wide spectrum of musical activities, including voice, piano, choir, theory, cello, orchestral percussion, conducting and trumpet. He played in a youth orchestra for four years.
June 1995, The Link Homeschool Newspaper is started by Mary Leppert in Los Angeles, CA. It is distributed nationwide, free of charge to homeschool groups, libraries and families who request it.
Its purpose is to link together the two disparate worlds of homeschooling – religious and non-religious – for their mutual benefit. There are many resources and ideas that both groups can share freely, without encroachment on their fundamental beliefs or standards.
June, 1997, The Link “kid comfortable” Homeschool Conference #1 is held in Thousand Oaks, CA. It is the first homeschool conference to feature workshops and supervised activities for children as well as parents, so entire families can spend the weekend together in a relaxed atmosphere.
Featured speakers included John Taylor Gatto, David & Micki Colfax, Cafi Cohen, Pat Farenga and many others. Over the run of The Link Conferences, we featured experts on parenting, child-rearing, vaccine awareness, developers of materials to assist students with ADHD & ADD, and we are proud of the fact that because of our eclectic philosophy, we encouraged anyone interested in homeschooling to attend; therefore, at one of our conferences one would typically see families of all faiths and belief systems together in peace and harmony, sharing their love of their children and of homeschooling.
The Link “kid comfortable” Homeschool Conferences continued in the Los Angeles area each year, through 2006, with a final one in 2008, and also an additional “kid comfortable” Conference in Greensboro, NC in March, 2000.
In 1999, Prima Publishing releases The Homeschooling Almanac, 2000-2001, by Mary & Michael Leppert. Including its second edition, 2002-03, it went on to become the best- selling homeschooling book of all time.
In 2008, Jossey-Bass Publishing releases The Homeschooling Book of Lists by Michael and Mary Leppert. It has been a popular library resource guide since its release.
We continue to do our best to produce valuable information for anyone interested in homeschooling and hope that all homeschooling families can benefit from our efforts.
