GHF Live Events

It All Happens in the GHF Forum!

GHF wants to ensure that we reach and serve as many gifted and 2e families as possible, which is why we have a free level of membership, the GHF Community Membership, that grants, among other benefits, access to all of our live programming. 

For those who are new to our quarterly mini-conference platform, GHF Conversations is a half-day of topic-driven programming featuring two expert presenters, each of whom are followed by facilitated conversation sessions with and for our thoughtful and engaging community of educators and parents. We warmly invite you to log in and participate as much or as little as you’re comfortable, but rest assured that you’re among people who understand and care.

Coming Up

09/20/25 • GHF Conversations: Tapping Into Strength & Calm, with Maria Kennedy, M.Ed and Lori Comallie-Caplan, LMSW

Welcome back to the “school year,” however that may look for your family! We’re kicking off our 25-26 series with strategies to center strengths and temper anxieties - two areas that most of us could use some help in (both for our kids and ourselves)! 


For those who are new to our quarterly mini-conference platform, GHF Conversations is a half-day of topic-driven programming featuring two expert presenters, each of whom are followed by facilitated conversation sessions with and for our thoughtful and engaging community of educators and parents. We warmly invite you to log in and participate as much or as little as you’re comfortable, but rest assured that you’re among people who understand and care.


Session One: 8-9:30am PT - Maria Kennedy, M. Ed, Tapping Into Strength

Do you ever feel like homeschooling your gifted child is a balancing act—between advanced abilities in some areas and challenges in others? You’re not alone! Many parents spend energy trying to “fix” weaknesses, but what if the real key to thriving is focusing on your child’s strengths?

This session introduces a strengths-based approach to homeschooling gifted learners—an empowering way of teaching that builds confidence, motivation, and joy in learning.

What You’ll Learn

  • What a strengths-based approach is (and why it works for gifted kids)

  • How to spot your child’s unique strengths in daily life

  • Practical ways to design learning projects around passions and talents

  • How to use strengths to support areas of struggle

  • Everyday practices you can start using right away at home



Session Two: 9:45-11:15am PT - Lori Comallie-Caplan, LMSW,  Anxiety, How Much is too Much: Strategies for Calming the Gifted Mind

Anxious feelings can be an adaptive reaction to unexpected changes that alert us to danger and focus our attention. However, with the many unknowns associated with natural disasters, pandemics, and individual trauma’s elevated stress reactions are common in both gifted children and adults and anxiety can become overwhelming. Join us to learn more about different manifestations of anxiety for children at different developmental stages, and red flags that indicate more serious concerns about an anxiety disorder, strategies to improve coping with uncertainty, as well as self-care tips for the parents.



Maria M. Kennedy is a speaker, author, and advocate who has been an educator for over 30 years. She currently teaches in the Lower School at Westmark School in Encino, California, where she supports students in tapping into their strengths and reaching their full potential.

Previously, Maria led the Phoenix Program at Bridges Academy, where she successfully expanded the program each year before taking on the role of Director of the Bridges Educational Group.

Maria earned her B.Ed. and M.Ed. in education from Manchester University and was awarded Advanced Teacher Status by the Manchester Department of Education for her expertise in curriculum development and classroom innovation. She has taught and trained educators internationally, sharing her passion for helping gifted and twice-exceptional students thrive.

A lifelong learner, Maria believes that effective educators must continually grow alongside their students. She stays deeply engaged with thought leaders in the field of gifted and 2E education and remains dedicated to empowering students by focusing on their strengths.


Learn more: https://www.westmarkschool.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariakennedy49/

 

 

Lori Comallie-Caplan is a New Mexico Licensed Master Social Worker, a Licensed Educational Diagnostician with a Master’s Degree in Psychological Counseling. Additionally, she holds Advanced Certification for Mediation from the University of New Mexico School of Law.  

Mrs. Comallie-Caplan has 35 plus years of experience in the field of counseling, coaching, evaluation, mediation and educational consultation. She is best known for her work with gifted individuals through the lifespan. Mrs. Comallie-Caplan frequently provides professional development for school districts, families, mental health professionals, State, and National organizations regarding the social emotional needs of the gifted. She is the Board Member Emeritus of New Mexico Association for the Gifted.

Learn more: www.Comallie-Caplan.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Comallie.Caplan

Recent Past Events. Miss it? Upgrade to Friends!

03/28/25 • GHF Virtual Co-Op: Tell Me More! with GHF Board Director, Lisa Jobe & Co-Op Parent Lead, Sydney Miller Milbert

It’s the perfect time to consider the GHF Virtual Co-Op - a “community first” model - in your homeschooling plans for fall.

What does “community first” mean? It’s how we describe the dynamic of families and facilitators coming together as a group that takes the time to get to know and trust each other, which forms the basis for then creating and providing classes and connection that serves everyone’s needs - a true community.

Watch the recording of this event in the GHF Forum to learn what makes the GHF Virtual Co-Op such a joy for its families, and how you can be a part of it. To read more information now, please go to the Virtual Co-Op page.

03/15/25 • GHF Conversations: Gifted Kids - Inner Lives and Experiences, with Dr. Adriane Ransom & Linda Silverman, PhD

In Session One, Bloom Pediatrics founder/director, Dr. Adriane Ransom, OTR/L, SWC, shares proven methods and perspectives for supporting early childhood experiences of giftedness and twice exceptionality, including sensory processing differences, eating challenges, social skills, and self-regulation. Then, in Session Two, ISAD and Gifted Development Center (GDC) founder, Linda Silverman, PhD, guides us on an odyssey of young, gifted inner lives: “Intricate thought processes and complex emotions are held in delicate balance in the gifted individual. Idealism, self-doubt, perceptiveness, excruciating sensitivity, moral imperatives, desperate needs for understanding, acceptance, love—all impinge simultaneously. Gifted children develop more asynchronously than others, and often feel unable to relate to age-mates. When they are forced into a mold that doesn’t fit, they begin to experience their differences as deficits. All who interact with them must understand their unique characteristics. Then they can learn to appreciate themselves and develop their own unique paths. We will explore the emotional needs and social realities of gifted children and discuss ways to nurture their full development.”

12/11/24 • GHF Conversations: Gifted & Distractible: Strategies for 2e Learners - an Exclusive Sesh with Julie Skolnick, MA, JD

We are over the moon to offer this special opportunity for you to spend time with one of the foremost voices in the twice exceptional field, the inimitable Julie Skolnick! Folks, this was a GET - to say that Julie is “in demand” is the epitome of understatements. The format for this is a little different - an aggregate Q&A, interview-style, rather than a presentation, focusing on nurturing gifted and 2e kids, as expounded upon in Julie’s instant must-have book, Gifted and Distractible: Understanding, Supporting, and Advocating for Your Twice Exceptional Child, followed by our usual open conversation with attendees.

11/02/24 • GHF Conversations: Gifted Intensity - Positive Disintegration & PDA with Chris Wells, PhD; Marna Wohlfeld, MA & Marni Kammersell, MA

In Session One, Dabrowski Center President and Positive Disintegration Podcast host, Chris Wells, PhD explores how the emotional and intellectual challenges often faced by gifted individuals can serve as catalysts for personal growth and deeper self-understanding, and can lead to extraordinary transformation and empower parents and young people to thrive in their personal growth and educational pursuits. Then, in Session Two, 2e doctoral candidates, Wandering Brightly’s Marni Kammersell, MA and GHF VP, Marna Wohlfeld, MA, draw upon the academic literature and insights from educators and adults with PDA, alongside their own experiences as parents of gifted PDA youth, to discuss best practices for nurturing and cooperating with gifted PDAers.

06/07-5 /24 • 4th Annual Gifted Home Ed Conference w Dan Peters, Paula Prober, Austina De Bonte, Sharon Duncan, Barry Gelston, Maria Kennedy, Heidi Lack, Sam Young, & more

Welcome to the 4th annual Gifted Home Education Conference, “Come As You Are: Reframe. Recenter. Reflect.” Pared down, informal and substantive, with plenty of discussion, this year’s three days of “filling our cup” earns instant RE-watch status.

05/09/24 • GHF Parent Group & GHF Virtual Co-Op Back-to-Back Q&A with Directors Dr. Lin Lim & Lisa Jobe

In Session One, GHF Families Director Dr. Lin Lim fields questions about the 2e parenting study that will serve as a pilot for GHF’s potential parenting development program. Led by Lim and Gayle Bentley, Ed.D. of The Bentley Center, participating parents are guided through nine weekly sessions that are designed to empower through a strengths-based lens. Then, in Session Two, GHF Co-Op Director Lisa Job shares first-year successes (32 families, unique courses, social hangouts, docent-led virtual field trips to the Smithsonian!) answers questions, and invites you to join for Fall 2024.

02/24/24 • GHF Conversations: Calm, Regulation & Self Care with Paula Prober, and Dr. Heidi Lack & Dr. Gail Post

In Session One, Your Rainforest Mind author and writer Paula Prober points you toward greater self-understanding and acceptance of your complexities so that you recognize the necessity and benefits of self-care and begin to find your particular path to inner and outer resources. In Session Two, Dr. Gail Post and Dr. Heidi Lack guided gifted parents through the “twists and turns en route to ‘the center,’ where we can, if we recognize it, rest and renew.” Due to the vulnerable, intimate nature of this session, it was not recorded.

9/23/23 • GHF Conversations: Enrichment Opportunities for Gifted & 2e with Carol Malueg, MA, GCT 2e, and Suki Wessling

In Session One, GHF Board Director Carol Malueg shares her wealth of knowledge about finding great-fit enrichment and social opportunities for gifted and 2e kids who aren’t getting these needs adequately met in school. Then, in Session Two, gifted-kid pied piper and enrichment expert, Suki Wessling, discusses how transformative quality online enrichment pathways can be for homeschooled gifted and 2e kids.

06/03 - 05/23 • 3rd Annual Gifted Home Ed Conference w Paul Beljan, Austina De Bonte, Julie Skolnick, Jaime Smith, Matt Zakreski & many more

Welcome to the 3rd annual Gifted Home Education Conference, “Come As You Are: Authenticity & Acceptance” - three edifying days brimming with compassionate gifted community leaders sharing their time and expertise to empower you with what you need to make intentional educational choices for your family. Wear your PJs, take us along to that soccer game, and ditch the background filters, because this year’s theme is Come As You Are: Authenticity and Acceptance!