Homeschooling Today® Under New Management!

Homeschooling Today® magazine Changes Hands—McDonalds Remain as Consulting Editors

The Murphy and Howard families take over production of Homeschooling Today magazine, the most respected publication for homeschoolers on the market.

Abingdon, VA, March 6, 2007: Homeschooling Today® magazine has a new management team. Veteran homeschoolers and parents of seven (soon to be eight) children, Steve and Kara Murphy, along with fellow homeschooling leaders, Jim Bob and Amy Howard, have taken over the helm of the most respected homeschool related magazine in the nation. The new team is keeping some familiar faces around, namely, James and Stacy McDonald, whose names have become synonymous with the magazine over the last five years.

Since 1992, Homeschooling Today magazine has established a tradition of excellence, beauty, and timely relevance to today’s homeschooling family. Packed with encouragement and practical helps for homeschool parents who work hard day in and day out to train up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Homeschooling Today magazine delivers the resources homeschoolers around the world have come to rely upon, from regular departments to book and product reviews, and from popular unit studies to academic helps.

The McDonalds have laid a strong foundation, making Homeschooling Today magazine a respected asset to homeschooling families everywhere. As contributing editors, they will continue to provide wise counsel to the governance of the magazine, to its readers through their writing, and to homeschoolers nationwide as popular keynote speakers.

“We have so appreciated James and Stacy and their leadership of Homeschooling Today magazine, and we look forward to pursuing further the vision they have communicated,” says Steve Murphy. Steve, and his wife, Kara, bring to the magazine a decade of business management expertise, as well as leadership within the homeschooling community. Serving as a regional support group board member, Steve has lead the charge to exhort homeschooling fathers/husbands to assume their God-given duty to be the leader of their homes, including sanctifying their wives and educating their children. He has provided for his growing homeschooling family by starting and running his own successful construction business, where he has had the privilege of leading several apprentices, helping some of them launch their own construction ventures. “If you were to squeeze him really hard, discipleship is what would come out,” declares Kara. A respected unit study writer, Kara has already been serving as a staff editor for Homeschooling Today magazine. The Murphys live in Southwest Virginia with their seven children.

Parents of four children, the Howards have been homeschooling since their oldest son was five. Jim Bob has served homeschoolers in many capacities: as a regional support group board member, conference host, newsletter editor, writer, and as assistant to homeschool author and speaker, Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr., a regular columnist of Homeschooling Today magazine. Jim Bob also spent several years in information technology, primarily in application and web development.

Amy is the gracious helpmeet of Jim Bob, assisting him in his role as editor-in-chief and has served as assistant editor under her husband on Every Thought Captive, the newsletter of the Highlands Study Center. A gifted writer, she has already garnered a following of women who look to her for encouragement in their role as wife and mother through her contributions to Homeschooling Today magazine’s regular department, Hearth and Homeschool.

Homeschooling Today magazine has taken on new energy with the addition of the Murphys and Howards to the management team, allowing the McDonalds to direct their energies in a more focused manner toward leading their local church in Peoria, Illinois, where James serves as Teaching Elder. James says, “We love Homeschooling Today magazine but know God is calling us to focus our energy directly on the ministry of the church. We are confident Steve and Jim Bob are uniquely qualified to carry on the vision we have sought to instill in the publication.”

“We view our role as magazine publishers in light of Scripture’s teaching about the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem,” explains Jim Bob. “In Nehemiah, the Israelites returning from exile were called to rebuild the wall around the city. To complete the job, each family worked on the portion of the wall nearest their own house, holding building materials in one hand and a sword in the other. When the trumpet blew, everyone was to rally to the fight to defend the population. Many homeschooling families today find themselves in a similar situation. The ancient boundary stones of Christ’s truth in our culture have been broken down. Each family is working to rebuild the wall in their own lives. They work around the clock to build into their children’s lives the truth of Scripture, while holding (and equipping their children with) the sword of God’s Word to defend against the encroaching worldview of society at large.” Jim Bob further explains, “Our job is to serve Christ by helping families rebuild the ruins, encouraging them to stand strong against the tide of the culture, and sounding the rally cry to ‘circle the wagons’ against any imminent threat to homeschooling freedom.”