Zan Tyler

Speaker | Author | Podcaster

Zan Tyler speaks to the heart of Christian homeschooling parents like few others. In addition to educating her own children, Zan has spent more than thirty years joyfully mentoring homeschool parents, publishing curriculum and resources for families, and advocating for home education everywhere from her state’s legislature to our nation’s capital. 

The parents at your event will be inspired and energized by Zan’s warmth, wisdom, and powerful presentations. Invite Zan to speak at your next homeschool convention, capitol day, leadership conference, homeschool moms’ retreat, or other event. 

Speaker | Author | Podcaster

Zan Tyler

Zan Tyler speaks to the heart of Christian homeschooling parents like few others. In addition to educating her own children, Zan has spent more than thirty years joyfully mentoring homeschool parents, publishing curriculum and resources for families, and advocating for home education everywhere from her state’s legislature to our nation’s capital. 

The parents at your event will be inspired and energized by Zan’s warmth, wisdom, and powerful presentations. Invite Zan to speak at your next homeschool convention, capitol day, leadership conference, homeschool moms’ retreat, or other event. 

Plan Your Event

Invite Zan, or have Zan and Joe Tyler Speak as a Team

Zan Tyler

ZAN TYLER is a popular keynote and workshop speaker. With over 30 years of experience, she speaks on a broad array of topics, including: 

Homeschool Vision 

Biblical Worldview 

Christian Parenting 

Teaching Writing

Raising Servant Leaders 

Protecting Homeschool Freedom

Preventing Burnout 

Cultivating Your Child’s Potential 

Homeschool Leadership

Marriage 

Zan and Joe Tyler

ZAN AND JOE TYLER are so much fun when they teach together, bringing laughter and sharing powerful stories and practical encouragement: 

Marriage Lessons from Real Life 

Cultivating a Family Vision 

Homeschool Leadership Series 

Joe Tyler

JOE TYLER is an excellent addition to your speaker line-up with humor and real-world examples. Joe’s topics include: 

Raising Sons 

Homeschool Dads 

Choose Your Topics

Select from over 25 Different Sessions

Zan’s Keynotes and Workshops

Zan Tyler speaks to the heart of Christian parents like few others. Zan’s own homeschool journey began in 1984 when she was threatened with jail. She has spent the past three decades advocating for homeschool freedom, publishing curriculum and resources, and joyfully equipping parents to thrive in their homeschool journey. She is an uplifting speaker, author, and the host of the Zan Tyler Podcast, an encouraging and practical weekly podcast sponsored by BJU Press Homeschool.

Homeschooling: A God-Centered Revival that Begins in Your Living Room

Alternate Title: Are You Leading or Just Taking a Walk?

Answering God’s call to teach your children at home can be exciting at first, but it’s easy to lose sight of the vision when you find yourself overwhelmed by the demands of the homeschooling life: teaching phonics, preparing transcripts, refereeing fights, and—oh, by the way—making dinner too. But in the midst of the madness, we must constantly remind ourselves: Our work matters because we’re building God’s kingdom! Come hear Zan Tyler share from history and God’s Word. And catch a glimpse of how God is using your family—and the homeschool movement—to usher in spiritual, educational, and family revival in our nation.

Pulling in the Same Direction: A Family Vision for Homeschooling

You’re totally in on this homeschool vision—building God’s kingdom from your kitchen table, investing in the lives of your children to see them impact the world for Jesus Christ one day. But have you let your kids in on the big-picture plan? Come learn how you can cultivate an understanding and passion in your children’s hearts for the spiritually powerful, innovative education they are experiencing, and see how much more focused and energized your family will be as you pursue the same vision together. 

[Note: This session includes some overlap with “A God-Centered Revival,” but focuses more on developing a family vision that includes your children.]

Homeschooling: Building Your Family Ark to Withstand the Cultural Tsunami

As a young mom, Zan Tyler’s encounter with Noah’s ark (Hebrews 11) defined and empowered her twenty-one year homeschool journey. The lessons she learned kept her afloat through times of fatigue, self-doubt, loneliness, and prosecution, and taught her to trust God with her family’s welfare. Noah’s ark has amazing implications for us as homeschoolers today, even down to the materials used in its construction. And, like Noah, we live in an age that is often hostile towards God. In this workshop, Zan will share seven principles that can give you vision, energy, and staying power for your own homeschool voyage in these perilous times.

Could Teaching Our Children to Remember God Help Save America?

Alternate Title: The Unbelievable Power of Teaching Our Children to Remember God

We are currently witnessing the worldwide rise of the “nones”—people who proudly reject any notion of faith or religion. This is causing a crisis not only in our country, but also in Western civilization as a whole. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who lived from 1918-2008 during the Russian Communist scourge, said, “When he was young, he heard the older Russian men say that the catastrophes in Russia came because men had forgotten God.” Could our crisis be solved simply by teaching our children to remember God? Christians are fervently seeking to understand our calling in this moment in history. Zan Tyler believes homeschooling holds out a unique and powerful hope. 

[Note: This session includes some overlap with “Building Your Family Ark to Withstand the Cultural Tsunami.”]

Motivated Kids Move Mountains

Infusing our children’s lives with motivation instead of having to drag them from one lesson to the next—is that even possible? Most of us are just trying to keep them on task in the midst of math anxiety, sibling rivalry, mounds of laundry, and the daily demands of life. Now imagine this: As you lead your children intentionally through their day, they learn and grow exponentially as you work to cultivate their strengths and encourage their faith. This isn’t a dream—it IS possible! Zan Tyler shares four power-packed principles you can use right away to motivate your children and raise a family of mountain movers.

Bonding with Your Children through Writing Together

Do you feel at a loss when trying to teach your kids and teens to write? Do you ever dread working on writing assignments with them? Zan Tyler has served as an executive editor, development editor, and acquisitions editor for websites and traditional publishing companies, including B&H Publishing in Nashville, TN. Join Zan as she draws from her professional experience to give you down-to-earth advice on how to encourage the writing process in your children—while building stronger relationships with them and avoiding meltdowns. It is easier than you think to teach writing like a pro.

How Talking with Your Children Can Stimulate Learning

Taking time to relax and enjoy your children is key for a happy, fruitful homeschool. In fact, talking together and listening to your children can revolutionize their education! Zan Tyler reveals how you can utilize the simple—and free—tool of conversation to help your children become motivated learners. Learn strategies you can take home and implement tomorrow to minimize conflict and promote camaraderie, enthusiasm, and joy in learning. You’ll come away convinced: Conversation IS core curriculum!

Raising Children to Be Intentionally Christian in a Hostile World

Our children live in the midst of a secular, anti-Christian culture, facing issues and moral dilemmas we never had to deal with at their age. Meanwhile, startling numbers of young adults raised in evangelical homes are abandoning their faith. Training our children with a strong biblical worldview and deep spiritual roots is crucial to our mission as Christian parents and one of the most important gifts we can give them. In this workshop you will gain insight on teaching your children how to think biblically about all areas of life. This will equip them to become powerful, faith-filled thinkers and leaders who can stand firm in the face of skepticism and opposition.

The Inspiring Work of Raising Servant Leaders

“The servant-leader is servant first” (President Woodrow Wilson). Teaching your children to love and serve others is the second-most important principle you will ever teach them. Come learn how to shepherd the hearts of your children to love their neighbors, while giving them the necessary foundation for becoming future leaders. Zan Tyler will show you how to build powerful, life-changing service and leadership projects into your children’s everyday lives. Be prepared to see your children come alive as they experience the joy of serving others!

Ten Lessons I learned on the Way to Jail: Fighting for Your Freedom to Homeschool

Alternate title: Freedom Fighting: 10 Principles to Empower You and Your Kids to Stand for Freedom

When Zan Tyler was threatened with jail in 1984 for teaching her son at home, she was forced to count the costs of homeschooling and decide if it was really worth it. Zan learned powerful lessons about fighting for freedom, family, and faith—lessons we need again today! Our nation is at a crossroads where the liberties we’ve often taken for granted are at stake. We are one lawsuit, bad law, or treaty away from seeing our right to homeschool erode, and we must all work to preserve our freedoms while intentionally raising up a new generation of freedom fighters. This session will encourage and equip you with powerful principles to share with your children and teens. 

Seven Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential

When you look at your child, do you see what God sees—a life brimming with possibilities and gifts? Zan’s life was transformed when she began looking beyond the overwhelming demands of each day to embrace a life-giving vision for her children’s future. So what are you waiting for? Learn to recognize the signs of potential in your children’s lives. Let Zan show you how to see every facet of your child’s life through the eyes of faith and the lens of Scripture. You’ll be inspired as you discover the crucial role you and your family play in shaping the identity and nurturing the gifts in each child. The Master Gardener has given you powerful tools for cultivating your child’s potential. Don’t miss this opportunity to discover what they are.

Preventing and Recovering from Homeschool Burnout

Homeschooling is demanding, and expectations—both our own and others’—can be a weighty burden. This often sets us up for intense feelings of failure and disappointment, especially when things don’t go according to plan. Even when we’re doing our best to follow God and love our families, we may suddenly find ourselves in the “fiery furnace” like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Join Zan Tyler for a refreshing talk that will set you free. We’ll cover what causes burnout, how to recover from it, and best of all, consider some simple but strategic steps to prevent burnout from happening.

Kingdom-Building Moms

For Moms Only

What does a homeschooling mom have in common with Noah, missionaries through the ages, the apostle Peter, and even her pastor? Join Zan Tyler for this illuminating workshop and come away inspired with a renewed vision for your home and your family. Learn why they are an important part of God’s plan to build His Kingdom on this earth. 

How Your Limitations Put God's Glory on Display

Do you have moments of panic when you wonder if you’re failing to give your children all they need to succeed in life? Do you secretly worry that you’re actually ruining their lives instead of blessing and equipping them? Do you wake up in the middle of the night plagued by items on the to-do list that remain undone, knowing there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish them all? Well, there might be a few other moms who have felt the same way, and Zan Tyler is one of them. But we have a faithful God who is full of surprises, and Zan delights in sharing how God longs to meet, redeem, and empower us in the midst of our weaknesses, worries, and even catastrophes—so that He is magnified through us!

Running the Homeschool Marathon: Ten Training Tips

Homeschooling is more like running a twenty-six mile marathon than a one-hundred yard dash. If you want to complete this race successfully, you must train in a way that builds strength, stamina, and vision—and enables you to persevere until the end. Fellow homeschool-marathon runner Zan Tyler discusses lofty topics like how to create and sustain vision, but she also shares the down-to-earth need-to-know tips like pacing yourself, choosing curriculum, and developing homeschool mentors and friends. You’ll come away with a plan that will enable you to “run with endurance the race that lies before” you.

Homeschool Leadership Series

These sessions can be taught by Zan and Joe together or by Zan herself.

Are You Leading or Just Taking a Walk?

Alternate Title: Are You Leading or Just Taking a Walk?

Your ability to lead is determined by your ability to influence others. Is your influence motivating and inspiring, or could it be undermining those you seek to lead? Join Zan Tyler as she shares valuable principles for influencing others—whether you’re working with children or adults in the homeschool community, the media, or officials at the local, state, or national level. Learn how to use your influence for the benefit of others, even when your plate is full and your time is limited.

A Powerful, Sustaining Vision for Leadership

Zan and Joe Tyler have been involved in homeschool leadership since 1985, serving at the local, state, and national levels. Are you creating a vision for your co-op, support group, or state organization? Or do you want to provide clear direction for your family? The Tylers share tips for developing a powerful, sustaining vision that encourages participation and engagement from those you serve. This session also includes ideas for implementing servant leadership and dealing with opposition. You’ll be inspired and refreshed as you listen to Zan and Joe share their own joys, frustrations, and the principles they’ve learned from decades of homeschool leadership. 

The Leadership Legacy

Our nation’s founding fathers and pioneers left us a rich legacy to consider as we teach our children to value and preserve liberty. Zan and Joe Tyler discuss the lessons we can learn from our history as we determine what type of legacy we need to leave for those who follow us. Topics include six traits of servant leaders, what it takes to fill the leadership gap, and how not to alienate your spouse or children while working to encourage other homeschool families. You’ll learn ways to effectively incorporate your children in your efforts so that your leadership becomes a mission that unites that family rather tearing it apart.

Ten Lessons I Learned on the Way to Jail: Fighting for Your Freedom to Homeschool

When Zan Tyler was threatened with jail in 1984 for teaching her son at home, she was forced to count the costs of homeschooling and decide if it was really worth it. Zan learned powerful lessons about fighting for freedom, family, and faith— lessons we need again today! Our nation is at a crossroads where the liberties we’ve often taken for granted are at stake. We are one lawsuit, bad law, or treaty away from seeing our right to homeschool erode, and we must all work to preserve our freedoms while intentionally raising up a new generation of freedom fighters. This session will encourage and equip you with powerful principles to share with your children and teens. 

Could Teaching Our Children to Remember God Help Save America?

Alternate Title: The Unbelievable Power of Teaching Our Children to Remember God

We are currently witnessing the worldwide rise of the “nones”—people who proudly reject any notion of faith or religion. This is causing a crisis not only in our country, but also in Western civilization as a whole. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who lived from 1918-2008 during the Russian Communist scourge, said, “When he was young, he heard the older Russian men say that the catastrophes in Russia came because men had forgotten God.” Could our crisis be solved simply by teaching our children to remember God? Christians are fervently seeking to understand our calling in this moment in history. Zan Tyler believes homeschooling holds out a unique and powerful hope. 

Women’s Retreat Sessions

These sessions can be taught as a four-part series, or as a single workshop.

Walking with Jesus in the Midst of Life's Fiery Trials

Homeschooling is a rich and wonderful way to raise children, but it can also be demanding and hard. This can set us up for intense feelings of failure and disappointment, especially when things don’t go according to plan. Even when we’re doing our best to follow God and love our families, we may suddenly find ourselves in the “fiery furnace” like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (and the Apostle Peter). Join Zan Tyler for a refreshing talk that will set you free. We’ll cover what causes burnout, how to recover from it, and, best of all, consider some simple but strategic steps to prevent burnout from happening.

When Jesus Wipes away Our Tears

In this session we will experience the tenderness and comfort of Jesus through the eyes of some Old Testament friends—Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah. We will discuss the bitter and trying circumstances they found themselves in and how Jesus redeemed each one. That comfort, hope, and healing is available to you too—regardless of how hopeless you might be feeling.

The Transformative Power of Delighting in your Family

We need to learn how to delight in and cherish our children and husbands—rather than viewing them as burdens or inconveniences. In this session, we will discuss specific ways to bring the joy and the power of delight into our daily lives and
relationships. Homeschooling is a powerful vehicle for accomplishing this.

Going to the Source to Bring Hope and Joy to Your Home

The Bible is a treasure trove when it comes to discovering joy and hope. In this session we will discuss both scriptural principles and practical strategies for creating a culture in your home that abounds with joy and hope.

Marriage Workshops

Marriage workshops are taught by Zan and Joe together. For the past 35 years, Zan and Joe Tyler have been actively involved in the American homeschool movement teaching and mentoring others. At their speaking engagements, they take their audiences beyond the demands of everyday life to embrace a wondrous, life-giving vision of family life. Audiences agree, “Zan and Joe are inspiring, engaging, funny, full of enthusiasm, encouraging, real, relatable, passionate, uplifting, empowering—authentic!” 

Marriage Lessons from Real Life

Zan was Joe’s best friend and ministry partner in college. He loved her and wanted to know how she felt about him. Even though they had never dated, Joe proposed out of the blue during their junior year—and Zan didn’t speak to him for a month! In spite of this rocky start, the Tylers have thoroughly enjoyed more than 40 years of marriage. They’ve experienced abundant joys and triumphs and have weathered many storms.

Among Joe’s responsibilities at home, he is in charge of attitude adjustments and comic relief. Zan says, “Being able to laugh through the years has helped me survive things like threats of jail, the pressures of homeschooling, and the stress of life in general!” Enjoy this refreshing session of laughter and encouragement as Joe and Zan share candidly about the ups and downs of married life—including their biggest fight ever—while focusing on principles that have served to form the unshakeable foundation of their marriage. You’ll learn how embracing the magnificent biblical vision of marriage is the key to a vibrant relationship.

Pulling in the Same Direction: A Family Vision for Homeschooling

You’re totally in on this homeschool vision—building God’s kingdom from your kitchen table, investing in the lives of your children to see them impact the world for Jesus Christ one day. But have you let your kids in on the big-picture plan? Come learn how you can cultivate an understanding and passion in your children’s hearts for the spiritually powerful, innovative education they are experiencing, and see how much more focused and energized your family will be as you pursue the same vision together. 

Joe Tyler’s Workshops

Joe Tyler is the President of Followers in Fellowship, a 501c3 organization committed to preserving and advancing Christian education in the United States. Prior to this role, Joe was the Operations Director for Apologia, and spent thirty years in the corporate world as an information systems project manager with Computer Sciences Corporation and BlueCross/BlueShield of SC. Joe and Zan have three children they homeschooled through high school. Joe serves as Chairman of the Board for the South Carolina Association of Independent Homeschools (SCAIHS) and as a founding board member of the Excelsior! Academy, a large homeschool co-op in Columbia, SC. 

Raising G-Rated Sons in an R-Rated World

Joe Tyler discusses the key issues dads face as we strive to instill a Christ-centered vision in our sons. Joe addresses the cultural pressures on our young men and shares practical advice for countering the culture and instilling a vision of purity in both our sons and daughters. Because of the frank and sensitive nature of this discussion, we request that only men attend.

Leaving a Legacy: The Vision of the Homeschool and Husband

A mobile phone commercial features an NBA point guard trying to play basketball blindfolded. Because he can’t see the goal, he’s never sure if he’s scoring. Too often, men take on the multifaceted roles of husband, father, shepherd, principal, coach, and disciplinarian without the vision necessary to define and accomplish their ultimate goal. With humor and real-world examples, Joe Tyler helps you define the goal and shares how to discover the divinely appointed means of achieving it. You may even learn the secret to making your wife deliriously happy, turning your home into a peaceful kingdom, ensuring your children are successful beyond measure, and placing your father-in-law in awe of your great accomplishments. Join Joe for a robust discussion of what it really means to leave a legacy as a Christian husband and dad.

Invite Zan to Speak

Invite Zan, or have Zan and Joe Tyler Speak as a Team

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