Dr. Kathy Koch

Celebrate Kids

Dr. Kathy Koch, PhD (pronounced “cook”)

Dr. Kathy is not only “Pro-Life,” she is “Pro-Abundant Life.”

With a passion for being an influence and for helping build strong and healthy families, Dr. Kathy writes (6 books and counting) and speaks (a lot and often) on a wide range of topics that are both timeless and current. Her humorous and easy-to-learn-from speaking style, foundational wisdom, and practical and relevant details leave her audiences empowered with strategies to navigate the challenges of raising and teaching children. She warmly speaks to young people and their adults with compassion and understanding, never shying away from tough topics in our current culture. Her messages are always beautifully woven with Biblical truth and hope.

Kathy has become a wildly popular speaker offering keynote presentations for conventions and pregnancy resource center banquets (raising big-bucks!); seminars for educators and students held at schools, churches, and conferences; and programs for parents at churches, schools, conventions, and youth and parent organizations.

She is a featured speaker for Care Net, Teach Them Diligently, Summit Ministries, Axis, and more. Her big-screen credit (one so far) is in Kirk Cameron’s 2018 movie Connect: Real Help for Parenting Kids in a Social Media World where Kathy was interviewed as the technology expert (without a script!). She is a popular guest on Focus on the Family Radio where her broadcasts were in the top ten shows in 2014, 2016, and 2019.

With audiences ranging in age from 10 to 100, Kathy has a unique gift of engaging, entertaining and teaching them all. She attributes much of her excellence to the three degrees she earned from Purdue University, including a PhD in reading and educational psychology. She also followed after her dad and brother by marching in the Purdue band. She taught second graders, coached middle schoolers, was a tenured associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and finally a school board member before becoming a full-time conference and keynote speaker in 1991.

Dr. Kathy founded Celebrate Kids, Inc., in 1991 and Ignite the Family in 2018, with Suzanne and Lane Phillips.

Workshops from Dr. Kathy Koch (may vary by event location)

8 Great Smarts: Discovering and Using Your Child’s Intelligences

All children have eight intelligences that can be awakened, strengthened, and used when learning anything. Each intelligence will be explained so you can determine which ones are strengths for your children and how to teach with them. You’ll also learn how children might be getting into trouble through their greatest strengths and what to do about it. The ways children are smart are also relevant to friendships, obedience, and spiritual growth. All the applications make this fun and important!

Resiliency: Help Children Embrace Life with Confidence

Resiliency is more than bouncing back from disappointments, but just that alone is a significant benefit. Resilient children have better mental health, are creative problem solvers, can break bad habits, and are teachable and willing to use effort. Parents’ attitudes and responses to children’s challenges matter! How do you respond when they struggle? How do you handle their disappointments when things don’t go their way? Learn how to create an environment that makes resiliency more likely. Dr. Kathy’s practical techniques work!

Five to Thrive: Help Your Children Become Whole and Meet Their Core Needs

Children have five legitimate needs that drive their wants, choices, actions, and attitudes. (You have the same five needs.) When God meets their needs, children will be whole, emotionally well, content, and so much more. Learn how to parent so their needs are met in God and other healthy ways. You’ll be refreshed by Dr. Kathy’s practical problem-solving approach to problems your children may be having.

Teach Them, Don’t Tell Them: Study Strategies that Work

Although most homeschooling days are probably about learning, remembering, and completing papers and projects, studying is also important. Have you taught your children HOW to study or do you think they’ll figure it out one day? Studying matters today and for their future. Dr. Kathy will suggest that you teach strategies from 8 study-skills categories and how to do so. After sharing about a few strategies, she will show how note taking can be used and taught in all grades with a scope-and-sequence you can then use with other strategies you want to teach.