Christopherus Homeschool Resources was founded in 2003 by Donna Simmons and Paul Newton.

Donna has had a lifelong involvement in Waldorf education. This began when she was 4 and was sent to the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City. Fourteen years later she graduated and attended Sarah Lawrence College where she studied history, creative writing, political science and child psychology. She did independent research comparing the work of Piaget and Rudolf Steiner.

Eventually she wound up in the UK and spent a number of years working on city farms and other youth projects. She discovered how valuable her Waldorf education had been in providing her with insights into children and found herself bringing elements of Waldorf education to a diverse group of children and teens in London’s East End.

Later, she taught at the Sheffield Steiner School but came home once baby Daniel arrived. She continued to support Waldorf education by opening a mother-baby parenting group in her living room for potential parents of the Sheffield school. This later grew into the Merlin Nursery which was originally for 3 and 4 year olds but ceased taking on such young children when Donna saw how problematic this was for them. Donna continued working with parents via Waldorf early years education groups for a number of years. Donna trained with Brien Masters at the London Waldorf Teacher Training course and was mentored in Early Years work by Judith Chamberlain.

Over the next decade and a half Donna and Paul (who was acquired some years before their sons were born...) lived in several intentional communities, looking for ways that Donna could combine working with children with parenting her own children. They spent several years in a Camphill community in Britain and then in a Camphill-influenced community in Wisconsin. Here Donna led education programs for families, homeschoolers, Waldorf classes and teen groups. Donna also later worked weekends in a Group Home for delinquent teenage girls for a time.

By now Donna was homeschooling her sons. During the years of their grade school educations, they were mainly homeschooled – but for short periods of time they also attended Waldorf schools, both in the UK and in the US. However, for a variety of reasons, Donna and Paul felt that homeschooling was ideal for their boys.

Donna articulated her desire to create resources for homeschoolers after meeting Waldorf homeschoolers who were tying themselves up into knots trying to create little Waldorf schools at home and who were frustrated by the beautiful but often inaccessible materials then available. In addition, Donna was also appalled by the often trivial and ugly materials written by and for conventional homeschoolers. Thus Christopherus Homeschool Resources was born in 2003.

Since that time Donna has taught in a variety of settings including English classes for homeschooled children and teens and remedial one-on-one work with teens. She also taught part time at a Waldorf-inspired high school (English, history, social studies and other classes) and then taught other high school students via a local charter school. She has written all of the Christopherus publications and has held workshops around the US. Her blog and the Homeschool Journey newsletter reach thousands of Waldorf homeschoolers across the globe. And, until recently when Christopherus took on two other consultants, Donna spent much of her time consulting with people needing parenting and homeschooling advice.

Donna has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society for almost 15 years and she and Paul are dedicated to working closely with the spiritual scientific approach that was the original foundation to Waldorf education. They are both members of The Christian Community, the Movement for Religious Renewal.

Donna loves to cook and to work in her garden and to read books from Oprah’s bookclub. Other than that she’s keen to keep up with political developments around the world and describes herself as a left libertarian.

Paul, married to Donna, is a former homeopath and Camphill houseparent/gardener who taught himself editing, web design, bookkeeping and whatever else was needed to make Christopherus Homeschool Resources a reality. During the first years of Christopherus' existence he was able to get away for 2 semesters to the Chicago seminary of The Christian Community. As of July 2010 he is just returned from a yearlong internship in the Christian Community congregation in Forest Row, England and in September will be continuing seminary training in Stuttgart, Germany.

Paul's interests are many and varied: he likes to sing and to play the piano; has taken an active part in the life of the Anthroposophical Society on a local level; is presently particularly interested in Rudolf Steiner's early work in epistemology and Goethean science.

And the reason we ever homeschooled…our camera-shy sons...

Daniel (b. 1991) now lives in England where he’s been at college and very involved in social justice issues. Now working on his next steps.

Gabriel (b.1993) is a high school senior and will graduate in May 2011. He plays bass in a punk/reggae band, loves to read and re-read books by Tolkien and enjoys cooking and beating his mother at cards and chess.

Since 2008, Leigh Anders has been working in the Christopherus office, dispatching book orders, answering your general inquiries about homeschooling and Christopherus publications, and being an all-round god-send to Donna and Paul!

Leigh is a mother to three children with varied educational experiences. Her oldest son, Alaric, benefited from twelve years special education in the public school system. Middle girl, Nora, completed eight years at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua and is now attending an independent study-based charter high school. Grace, the youngest, is currently homeschooling as an eighth grader. 

Leigh has spent the last 18 years actively involved in her children’s education, volunteering, substituting in the Waldorf kindergarten and early grades, and advocating for change in public school special education. And when she isn’t doing these things, she can be found reading memoirs and biographies, tending her front yard garden, or penning a column for the local paper.