Fifteen years ago, Alisha Eades was a young mom in Fort Worth, Texas, following a Veritas Press catalog page by page—Saxon Math, the Phonics Museum, a Sunday-night ritual of sitting down with each of her kids to map out the week ahead. Today, she's an academic advisor at Veritas, guiding other families through the same decisions she once had to make on her own.

This is her story.

Choosing to Homeschool

Alisha and her husband married young, and homeschooling wasn’t originally her idea.

“My husband and I were married very young, and I remember one day he started telling me that he thought we needed to homeschool our kids,” she says. “I thought he was crazy at first—until I really started reflecting on what my public school experience was like.”

It was her husband who first discovered classical Christian education, years before they had children of their own. “He started telling me about it, and it just made so much sense to us—the methodology and the ideas behind it. We really liked that method, and we knew we wanted to use a classical Christian model of education for our own children.”

Why We Chose Diploma

For years, their homeschool ran the way most classical homeschools do: mornings at the breakfast table for recitation, Bible, and history, then each child moving to their own corner of the house for independent work, with Alisha rotating between them. It worked . . . until her oldest hit eighth-grade geometry.

“That was the first year we hit our first big bump in the road,” she remembers. “My oldest was asking me questions about why or how his geometry problem homework was wrong, and I’m no mathematician, so I couldn’t explain how he was wrong. And those logic DVDs were not working out either.”

The turning point came, fittingly, at a birthday party. “We were at a friend’s 40th birthday party, and we sat with his sons, who were my son’s age, and we asked them what their favorite class was this year. They were taking live classes at Veritas—and guess what their favorite class was? Geometry.”

By Monday, Alisha and her husband had scheduled a free consultation with a family consultant. Within days, their two oldest were enrolled in the Diploma Program.

What Changed Using Diploma

Enrolling didn’t just change her kids’ school days.

“Instead of being teacher every day for every subject, my Sunday evenings became a time where I sat down with each one of them and looked at their course assignment sheet with them,” she explains. “Instead of teaching them all these subjects, I was the proofreader.”

She’d check writing assignments and science labs against the rubric before anything got turned in, proctor exams, and otherwise step back. “I loved that they were being held accountable by other adults besides myself. I was free to truly just be mom again—not nag them about assignments they needed to turn into me.”

Student Growth, in Real Time

The proof of it showed up in small, unplanned moments years later.

“Recently, one of our sons mentioned to us that during his weekly RUF Bible study, when he mentions an insight he recalls from an Omnibus class, the other friends in the study are amazed at his answers,” Alisha says. “I believe all of those Omnibus essays—where they have to defend their thoughts and back up their reasons using scripture—taught them how to think deeply.”

Completing Our Homeschool

Two of Alisha’s children are now in college. Looking back at the finish line, she doesn’t credit any one class or curriculum but the whole system working together.

“It feels amazing to reach the finish line. We are so pleased with the overall level of education, the biblical worldview, the logical thinking skills, and the ability to communicate ideas clearly that our kids all have. It takes a lot of hard work on the student’s part to reach the finish line, but with determination and a good support system at home, they can do it.”

The Hardest Part

Ask Alisha what was actually difficult about the journey, and the answer isn’t academic.

“The only difficult part about our journey in the Diploma program was making sure the family procrastinator was paying attention and not putting off things for too long,” she laughs. “But those are great life lessons to learn before getting to college. He was held accountable to another adult besides myself, and he learned to take on that responsibility.”

The other difficulty was one most parents will recognize: doubt. “I worried each year that my students would struggle, or that I was putting them in over their head. But yearly, they rose to the occasion and surprised me at their ability and work ethic.”

What an Academic Advisor Actually Does

When Alisha’s family joined the Diploma Program, they were matched with an advisor named Susan, and it changed the shape of her own experience entirely.

“I finally had someone to bounce my ideas off, to listen, to guide, and give advice,” she says. “Susan’s experience as a Veritas mom of students a few years older than mine meant she knew the ins and outs of Veritas—she knew some of the teachers, and she had college planning wisdom to share with me.”

Susan’s help went beyond course selection. “I’ve always been so thankful for Susan’s guidance, particularly when it came to standardized test preparation. I would not have known where to start. She had a plan she used with her own kids that she taught me—and it’s actually the plan we share now in our junior class sessions each year.”

For families who’ve never had an advisor, Alisha describes it plainly: “Imagine having basically a personal assistant to walk you through course plans, register your courses for you yearly, send you a book quote of all the books you need each year for each of your students, and just point you in the right direction every time you need it. It really gives the whole Diploma Program a personal touch.”

Why I Became an Advisor

Somewhere in the process of leaning on Susan’s guidance, something shifted.

“As I learned from her over the years and gleaned more and more knowledge from her, I started to realize I knew more than I had in the past,” Alisha says. “I would talk to other local friends who homeschool, and they would realize I knew things they didn’t know. I even held a few advising sessions here in my home, helping local friends with their homeschool. I started realizing that I just really loved helping these families—and I wanted to do it more and more.”

What Families Come to Her Worried About

Now on the other side of that relationship, Alisha hears the same handful of concerns again and again.

“Families most often come to me wondering if their student is going to be well prepared for high school and even college when they graduate,” she says. “They want to make sure their kids are learning the organizational skills needed for college life. Are they learning to be accountable to another adult? But mainly, they want them to be prepared educationally to do the level of work required at a university.”

What Families Underestimate

If there’s one thing Alisha wishes every family knew earlier, it’s how far ahead planning needs to start.

“I would say it’s much better to start ahead—say in fifth or sixth grade—to begin preparing for college. Let’s use math as an example. If your student’s current math level isn’t going to get them where they want to be when they graduate, and you wait until high school to figure that out—say they want to be an engineer or a doctor—they might not have time to get to the level of math they wish they did before college. It’s better to think ahead now. And if they got further ahead than they really wish they were, you can always slow down and adjust course from there.”

The Most Rewarding Part

For Alisha, the reward shows up in specific moments.

“The most rewarding part of my work as an advisor is hearing from families, on a phone call or an email, just thanking me and so happy about the success they’re seeing in their student’s education,” she says. “Last year at EOY, one of my sweet little international families—living overseas, serving as missionaries—brought me a small gift. The mom said, with tears in her eyes, that she was so thankful for Veritas and for my help and guidance, because when they moved overseas, she really thought they were going to have to sacrifice their children’s education. Now, through Veritas, they didn’t have to.”

Is Diploma Your Next Step?

For any family currently doing what Alisha once did—homeschooling with a classical curriculum, wondering if it’s time for something more—her advice is simple.

“I would say to a family who is wondering if the Diploma Program is the right next step for them: call in for a free consultation with one of our family consultants to find out more. I know it’s been one of the best parenting decisions we’ve ever made for our family, and my kids have gone much farther than I ever could have taken them without the program.”

Advice for Families Just Starting Out

Her closing thought is one she still says to her own kids, and now finds herself repeating to the families she advises.

“For any family who’s just starting their Veritas journey, I would like you to know that the days are long, but the years are short. Our children need to be equipped and ready for the battles they’re going to face in life, and there’s no other place like Veritas that can do this for them. The subject matter, the curriculum, the teachers—they’re all world-class. Now, whether you eat or drink or educate your children, do all for the glory of God.”