The NCHE Leadership Series part 5

Connecting you with other homeschooling families across our state is our mission!

North Carolinians for Home Education separates the 100 counties in our state into nine regions. Each region has an NCHE regional liaison who actively engages with the people in their communities. Liaisons are frequently called to speak at regional gatherings, support group meetings, and community events. They are treasured by the NCHE board for their dedication to practically serving homeschooling families. Here is a list of our first 4 regions and their corresponding counties.

• Region 1 serves our state’s western-most counties: Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Polk, Swain, and Transylvania.
• Travelling north and east, region 2 serves: Allegheny, Alexander, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Mitchell, McDowell, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties.
• Continuing east, region 3 serves the heart of the Triad in these counties: Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Yadkin.
• Region 4 includes our state’s largest city (Charlotte: the Queen City) and these counties: Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rutherford, and Union.

In this penultimate post in our series, we will meet the regional liaisons who serve in these counties.

Jerri Neal has served as regional liaison for Region 1 since 2011. She and her husband, Freddie, have been married since 1990, are parents of 8 children, and grandparents of 2. Freddie and Jerri made the decision to homeschool when their firstborn was still in diapers, and they attended their first NCHE Conference when he was only 3. Jerri enjoys serving homeschoolers in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina.

Melanie Willis serves as Liason to Region 2.  She and her husband, Matt, we’re both born and raised in NC, and they currently live in Dobson, NC where they co-own a dairy goat farm. She is a mother to six children and has been homeschooling for 10 years. Melanie attended Appalachian State University and graduated with a degree in industrial technology, and she minored in music.  Fun fact: Melanie enjoys music, cooking, and playing with all the farm animals.

Brea McClain was appointed Region 3 Liaison in 2018.  The McClains live in Kernersville where they have homeschooled for 15 years.  Her oldest son, Ransom, graduated in 2017, followed by Asher in 2019.  She’s now teaching Sigourney, 17, in the 12th grade; Tobias, 15, 10th grade; and Corwin, 8, 3rd grade. The loss of her four-year-old son Joel in 2012 gave her a passion for rare disease advocacy, special needs education and grieving parents. Brea and her husband, Kevin, have served with the NCHE board since 2010, with Kevin filling roles as Education VP, President, IT Director, and currently Advisor. Kevin currently serves as The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s GSuite for Education Administrator.

Anita Hudson is regional liaison for Region 4. She and Keith have been married for 27 years and live just outside of Charlotte. Anita homeschooled their three children for over 20 years. Their youngest graduated (in 2019), so Anita is now a retired homeschooler! Keith and Anita have one married son and precious daughter-in-love with a grandchild due in 2021. Their oldest daughter is getting married this October and their youngest is a junior in college. Anita also helps lead the homeschool group at their church in Matthews. Fun fact: Anita considered herself the person least likely to homeschool, but the Lord kept nudging and placing homeschooling families as mentors for her and Keith! How grateful she is that His ways are not our ways and that she answered the call to homeschool! (As a side, Keith was ready to homeschool way before she was!)

Are you a new NCHE member? We’d love to meet you! Introduce yourself in the comment section below, or email us at nche@nche.com. Thinking of becoming a member? Start here.