Kristin Smith grew up in Atlanta and always wanted to be a teacher. She graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in Business, majoring in Management and Minoring in Accounting. She started out in office management for a small law firm which led to her transitioning to a career as a paralegal. Even practicing in a field she loved, she still desired to teach so she volunteered through Hands On Atlanta where she worked with students at Whitefoord Elementary School. She and her husband moved from Atlanta to Huntsville, Alabama twenty years ago and she continued volunteering with local school children. Years before the birth of her only child, Kristin started to research the option of homeschooling. With the birth of her only child in 2004, Kristin and her husband began to seriously consider the idea. Excited about the numerous opportunities homeschooling provided - including satisfying Kristin’s long desire to educate - the family committed to the homeschool journey. Kristin and her daughter attended several cooperatives over the years in which Kristin had the chance to teach and her daughter had the experience to learn in an environment more like a traditional classroom. Many of these other homeschooling families continued to seek out Kristin’s classes and, in 2017, Kristin hosted the first classes for homeschoolers out of her home. She led an all girls team to compete in Mock Trial at the state level through Alabama Youth in Government in 2018. In 2019, Kristin and a small group studying Alabama History were preparing to celebrate Alabama’s bicentennial. Through planning the lunch menu, they realized that Alabama had never designated an official state vegetable. Kristin and this group of students started a state-wide campaign and, in 2021, stood on the steps of the Alabama state Capitol with several state senators, the speaker of the House of Representatives, several state representatives, and members of the Alabama Farmers Association as the governor signed the legislation proposed by Kristin’s students designating the sweet potato as the state’s vegetable. Kristin has become a true leader in the homeschooling community and continues to teach. Kristin’s daughter is a senior this year and will be attending college in the fall 2022. Kristin’s desire is to continue to teach and mentor other families through their homeschooling journeys.