If you had to draft a high school transcript for your 17-year-old child on your own, could you do it? What about registering them for dual enrollment with the local community college? Could you confidently guide them through their completion of the required units of the Mississippi College Preparatory Curriculum?

For years, Giovanna Smith has navigated these uncertainties while homeschooling her children in Columbus.

“In the beginning, I didn’t have anybody. I didn’t have support,” Smith said. “I honestly probably spent three years crying and then found support – I had to actually get out and make the support. And out of desire to make that support, (ECHO) has been established.”

Two years ago, Smith, along with three other families – the Hamlins, Selvies and Slades, who refer to themselves as the “four founding families” – decided to step up and become the support they wanted to see for local home educators. Smith said this is how their organization, the East Columbus Homeschool Organization (ECHO), came to be.

ECHO is a Christian nonprofit whose mission is to support and empower families on their homeschooling journeys. It provides fellowship opportunities, including a meeting space for parents and students to gather, and a variety of resources, including its “Lending Library” – a database of homeschooling curriculum.

To provide a social classroom setting, Smith said the organization offers in-person “A La Carte” classes that can be selected based on students’ particular interests.

The organization also hosts free information sessions for parents.

On Thursday, the organization held a “Homeschool 204: High School & Beyond” event to guide homeschooling parents through essential graduation requirements.

The session included a presentation by Regan Mitchell, East Mississippi Community College dual enrollment coordinator, on dual enrollment opportunities for homeschoolers. There was also a presentation given by Slade and Smith with information on curriculum choices and post-graduation pathways. Parents drafted transcripts and outlined an individualized education plan for their high school students.

Founding ECHO

ECHO was officially created in 2024, although Smith identified a need for such an organization years earlier when she began homeschooling her children along with Lashell Selvie, another cofounder.

“We needed friends, and our kids needed friends,” Smith said. “And so in 2021, we started a group just for moms to get together with the kids out of my house. We came together once a week and we ate lunch together. We played in the yard together. The moms talked. We did field trips. That’s it. That lasted about two and a half years.”

What started as weekly home fellowship officially expanded into ECHO two years later when Smith and Slade started the nonprofit.

“It was literally just a sheet of paper,” Smith said. “We were like, ‘Well, we’ll start it. We need a nonprofit, but we’re gonna keep meeting. We don’t really know where to go from here, but we’ll keep doing this.’”

At first, there wasn’t a place for ECHO to call home, so Smith said they would meet weekly at the library, eating lunch and breakfast together and going on field trips.

Then, in 2025, the four founding families worked to buy an old church built in 1964 – a choice that felt natural.

Now, the group is thriving at its new home on 515 Lehmberg Road.

ECHO itself isn’t a school, but rather a group of individual homeschooling families – the founding families are clear about that. However, this year they will partner with Hope Educational Services for the first time to house a microschool, ECHO Family School, in their building.

The microschool, which will begin operating Aug. 17, will offer homeschooled children a chance to be in a classroom environment. Parents can choose between one-, two- or five-day options. For those interested in learning more about the microschool, there will be an information session Tuesday at 6 p.m. at ECHO.

“(The microschool) can provide the structure based on what the parents have already designated as their schooling at home,” Slade said. “The goal is families are still in control.”

The microschool is one way ECHO is working to break the stigma around the decision to homeschool. Tiffiny Hamlin, cofounder, said many families are hesitant to take that step.

“The challenge out here is fear. There are people who want to be more engaged with their children’s education, but they’re afraid to,” Hamlin said. “That was our challenge as well. And the rest of society is saying, ‘You can’t do that.’”

Another barrier the founding families faced in the beginning was the lack of representation for Black families who want to homeschool, which is why their mission of connecting with the broader community hits close to home.

“When (people who want to homeschool) run into people, or see that there is a club or a group or an organization or a co-op, and people become more vocal … it’s emboldening other people to do what they already had in them – what they were already inclined to do,” Slade said.

Smith said she hopes ECHO can spread the idea that anyone can homeschool, regardless of race, income or any other differences families might feel set them apart.

“You don’t see many families who look like you doing it? Then you just, you just don’t do it,” Smith said. “You just stick to the norm. Like, ‘Everybody’s in school? That’s what I’ll do.’ But that’s not how it has to be.”

Zanaya Moore-Smith is an upcoming eighth grader who has been homeschooled “pretty much (her) whole life” and has been attending ECHO since it was founded. She said she participates in family group meetings and classes like science, art and music appreciation.

But what she’s most proud of learning since going to ECHO is how to put herself out there.

“My favorite part is being around people, because when we first started homeschooling, we weren’t around a lot of people,” Moore-Smith said. “Here, we get to meet new people.”

ECHO’s future

William Slade, Rachelle’s husband and a cofounder, said a long-term goal of the organization is expansion.

“We hope that this building, this homeschool center, can be able to move on and open up other ones in other communities to show people that they can do it too,” William said. “So that’s why we try to put so much time and effort into this one, because we want it to spread.”

Smith said ECHO is seeking grants, partners and sponsors to support its cause. They’re raising money for building repairs such as roof work, air conditioning and lighting by having a $10 barbecue plate fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the organization’s home base on 515 Lehmberg Road.

The group has come far in five years since those weekly meetings in Smith’s house, and they hope to continue their mission by reaching as much of the community as possible.

“It’s not like I’m sitting with Lashell at (my) house and we’re doing book work together (anymore),” Smith said. “We’re actually reaching out to the whole community saying, ‘Hey, we’re here to help you guys.’”

“The door (has) opened. We have the resources. We are here to help you along the way,” Rachelle added. “We’ve done this. We’re still doing it, and we want to support you in (your family’s) journey.”