Shirley Erwee is the mother of six children, Lucille, Jonathan, Kayleigh, Riaan jr., Samantha and Jason, she has over twenty years (and still counting) of homeschooling experience and is actively involved in homeschool circles, distributing various resources, offering Footprints workshops and encouraging prospective and existing homeschoolers in person and via egroups and Facebook.
Besides co-authoring the Footprints On Our Land series since 2002, she has also published two books for homeschooling parents, Homeschooling The Primary Years and Homeschooling High School, a manual for preschoolers, ABC Fun & 1-2-3, two free menu planners, Prepared to Cook and A Joy to Cook, and a preschool website Shirley’s Preschool Activities.
The Erwee family, 2019
In 2016, Shirley launched Online GED Prep, now rebranded as Go Prep, offering online classes to prepare candidates for the GED® tests, a matric equivalent that is growing in popularity among the home educating community.
Four of her six children (so far) have completed the GED and two of them have also completed university degrees at overseas universities.
In 2025, she launched a new venture at shirleyerwee.com to empower parents to become confident money mentors by teaching practical, moral, and entrepreneurial financial principles to their families—turning everyday moments into life-changing money lessons for their children.
Shirley is also part of a team of homeschool ambassadors who promote homeschooling interests with government and the media and work to protect the freedom of families to choose this option for their children. In 2020 she was one of the founder members of the Liberty in Learning Coalition. Her desire is to encourage families to choose homeschooling as a lifestyle and to build the confidence of parents who educate their children at home.