Anita Draper
Catholic Herald staff

Helping homeschooling parents keep their balance – managing children and their education while still prioritizing their marriage and spiritual health – is the theme of the Diocese of Superior’s 2026 Homeschool Conference scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, at St. Joseph, Rice Lake.

The fifth annual event begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m., with an optional question-and-answer session from 3-4 p.m.

Gina Loehr, who spoke at the diocese’s first gathering of homeschoolers in 2022 and has also been a leader at the diocesan women’s retreat, will return to present at the 2026 conference.

“She was so good,” said Loree Nauertz, the associate director of the Office of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship who also leads the Office of Marriage and Family. “As a homeschooling mom myself, I know that I always wanted my relationship with my spouse to take priority, and that didn’t always happen when we were just in the throes of having children and just trying to keep it all straight.”

Nauertz noticed her relationship with her husband sometimes got backburnered, so she asked Loehr to talk about prayer life and the Sacrament of Marriage and how to keep those things a priority while homeschooling.

Loehr, who has a master’s degree in theology, has homeschooled each of her six children at one time or another, responding to their individual needs while also building her own career as a professor, author and speaker. She lives on a 600-acre dairy farm in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Nauertz, who has similarly homeschooled each of her six boys intermittently, first organized the gathering as a means of encouraging homeschoolers – past, present and future – to support one another in their calling.

Sometimes homeschooling parents can feel forgotten by the church, she added. “We want them to know that we see them, we want to know who they are, we want to encourage them.”

Emphasizing the familial nature of the calling, Nauertz especially hopes to see husbands and wives come together. That’s why they offer childcare, she explained.

“We had more men show up last year,” Nauertz said. “We want them to continue to come. …. It should be a team effort …. We try to make it as easy as possible for them.”

Nauertz is a big fan of Loehr, whose titles include “Real Women, Real Saints”; “Choosing Beauty: A 30-Day Spiritual Makeover for Women”; and “The Church is Our Mother: Seven Ways She Inspires Us to Love.”

“What I love about Gina is she is so down-to-earth, so real,” Nauertz enthused. “She’s just so darn smart.”

Loehr, who was herself homeschooled as a child after her aunt’s death left her traumatized, intended to quit Catholicism as a young woman.
“She was a very leftist feminist who was about to leave the church because it was so sexist,” Nauertz said.

Loehr’s brother challenged her to spend a year learning the church’s views about women. She accepted the challenge, beginning with Pope St. Paul II’s “Letter to Women” (June 29, 1995), then studied the lives of the saints and more.

Her studies convinced her to both embrace the church’s teachings and to share them, through writing, teaching and speaking, with other women.
Nauertz calls her background “relatable.”

“Her whole mindset is wanting to help people be in relationship with Christ,” Nauertz added.

Right now, Loehr is praying for the wisdom to share the right message when she returns to the Diocese of Superior in September.

“She doesn’t have a ‘canned’ retreat. That’s not how she works,” Nauertz commented. “It’ll be different from the last time she was here.”
Although the homeschoolers’ gathering is called a conference, Nauertz said they are moving toward a more retreat-style meeting – including a bit of spiritual direction and helping attendees to recharge spiritually. She envisions “a place where they can come and feel supported and encouraged and welcomed.”

Even if they can’t make it to the conference, Nauertz said she would still love to hear from homeschooling parents. She knows the distance to Rice Lake can be challenging for parents from the far side of the diocese.

She’s also excited that Loehr, who has declined speaking invitations in the past, elected to accept this one.

“I’m just very, very thrilled that she’s coming,” Nauertz concluded. “She discerns these things.”

Cost to attend the conference is $30 per person or $60 per family, including childcare and lunch. To register, visit https://catholicdos.org/homeschool-support.

Gina Loehr

Loree Nauertz