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National Day of Prayer - May 1
 On Thursday, May 1, 2008, our nation will observe the fifty-seventh annual National Day of Prayer. President Bush and the governors of all fifty states will issue proclamations heralding the day, and millions of Americans will raise their voices in prayer to the Lord for our land.
This year's theme is Prayer! America's Strength and Shield. This theme reflects the sentiment of Psalm 28:7, which states,"The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped." There will be special events all around Texas-find a place and get involved.
Click on the graphic for more information about the National Day of Prayer. Plan your own event!
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THSC Association Offers Legal Assistance
 Joining the Texas Home School Coalition Association brings benefits beyond just being connected to the state organization. (Click on the graphic to find out more about the benefits of membership in THSC.) Among those benefits is legal assistance. Staffers intervene when local school officials challenge a family's right to homeschool. Through phone calls and/or letters, THSC ends the confrontation and confirms the right of parents to teach their children at home. (See samples of such letters in past weekly E-Newsletters.)
If these methods do not accomplish the desired results, the association calls upon its general legal counsel, Shelby Sharpe, to deal with the school districts in the courts. Mr. Sharpe was the lead attorney in the Leeper v. Arlington class action suit, the case upon which the great home school law in Texas is based, so he is more than qualified to handle such problems! (Meet Shelby Sharpe.)
Members also receive help when dealing with other officials about problems related to their home schooling. Often bureaucrats and government officials with whom home schoolers must deal make decisions that may infringe upon their rights. THSC Association experiences great success in confirming home educators' rights as it intervenes in these situations on behalf of its members.
Get peace of mind today! |
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Arlington Home School Book Fair - May 9 & 10
 The Arlington Home School Book Fair is Mother's Day weekend, May 9 and 10. Dads, this is a wonderful gift for your hard-working, burned-out wives! Moms, don't miss this great opportunity to see and browse through all the curricula you've seen in catalogs and wondered about. Great speakers will also be available to educate and inspire you to continue your home schooling journey.
Tim and Lyndsay Lambert of the Texas Home School Coalition will both speak at the fair. Tim will review the legalities of home schooling in Texas before a special showing of THSC's new documentary, "Taking a Stand in Texas: The Battle for Home School Freedom." Lyndsay will help harried moms with their little ones by presenting "Help! What do I do with My Preschoolers?" The Lamberts join Renee Ellison, Dr. Jeff Myers, and Sarah, Stephen, and Grace Mally. Click on the graphic for more details about the speakers.
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Home School Graduates Adjust to Life at UT
 "When we were young, a lot of people thought our mother was trapping us in the houses and brainwashing us," Thomas said. "Adults would instantly start going into pop quizzes."
Mary Hooper, reporter for The Daily Texan, examines how former home schoolers are adjusting to life at a large university. She delves into what being homeschooled was like for these students, how they were "socialized," and what it has meant for them in college life. The report also describes the college application process for home schoolers at UT.
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Breaking the Law?
 "She's crunched by a budget, like most California teachers. She faces an increase in class size, like most California teachers. She makes no protest. There's nobody to protest to. Except maybe her husband.
"JoAnna Pritchett home-schools her 16-year-old daughter, Corrie. Her class size doubled this year when her 6-year-old son, Chad, started kindergarten. Her budget cuts: 'My daughter wants a microscope,' Pritchett says. 'That's not in the budget. We're not able to do that this year.'
"She spends $250 per student, according to her checkbook. California spends $7,081, according to an Education Week report released in January.
"Statistics suggest she teaches children who will trounce their public school peers in the Scholastic Assessment Test, or SAT. Studies show she is rearing critical thinkers, consistent achievers and fiercely independent leaders.
"But a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles County says she's breaking the law."
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Get Involved in Politics - Be a Convention Page!
 The Republican Party of Texas needs teenagers to serve as pages during its State Convention June 12-14. The Convention will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Pages must be at least fifteen years old by June 12 and may be no older than eighteen.
Any teen who serves in this capacity for either political party at a state or national convention may count his service toward Political Party Participation in the THSC Good Citizenship Award Program. Teens must complete an application for a position as page. The application must be accompanied by the Page Applicant Qualifications form.
Click here for information on the Texas Democratic Party Convention, June 5-7, in Austin.
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Texas Farm Bureau Youth Leadership Conference
The Texas Farm Bureau Youth Leadership Conference is a weeklong conference that teaches high school students the importance of free enterprise, the Constitution, and citizenship. Students who attend are sponsored by their local county farm bureaus. The cost of the camp is entirely funded by the county farm bureaus and Texas Farm Bureau. The conference generally accepts students who will be juniors or seniors in high school in the fall and are in the top 30% of their class. Registration deadline: May 2
This conference is the first requirement for students to enter the Free Enterprise Speech Contest. The winner of that contest will receive a $4,000 scholarship. The runner-up will receive $2,500, and four finalists will receive $1,500. Each district winner will receive $1,000. The top six finalists (winner, runner-up, and four finalists) will also receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Interested students will need to visit their respective county Farm Bureaus for applications. If you need help determining where county Farm Bureau offices are located, call Coleburn Davis at 254.399.5037 or e-mail him at cdavis@txfb.org.
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A Contest - Family Stories from a Student's Perspective
 Does your student have a funny or touching family story?
Carolyn Currey and her cousin Rachel Starr Thomson are both members of large, home schooling families. Their love of family stories led them to write their book, Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled. Now they want to hear your family stories! If you have students between the ages of eight and eighteen and they have a funny, dramatic, or touching true story they'd like to share, have them write it up and send it in!
The authors will choose one winner in each of four age groups to receive an autographed copy of Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled. The deadline for the contest is May 1, so get your entries in soon!
Entry Guidelines:
Stories should be between 700 and 2000 words. All entries must be based on real-life events. Put "Family Fun Story" in the subject line and paste the story into the body of the email-no attachments, please. In the top left corner, include your name, age, and e-mail address. E-mail your entry to publisher@littledozen.com.
What a great idea for a writing assignment!
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A Merry Heart Doeth Good
Reprinted with permission. Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com
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Schertz-Cibolo Official Demands Unnecessary Forms
 A Schertz-Cibolo ISD official called an Association member parent to tell him that his letter of withdrawal and assurance was not enough and he needed to come to the school in person to complete withdrawal forms and present his curriculum for inspection. Tim Lambert responded with the state requirements and warned the district to back off.
Read the letter.... | |
Articles in THSC's weekly E-Newsletter are included because of their potential interest to the home school community of Texas. Inclusion does not signify an endorsement. We encourage parents to practice due diligence before participating in any program. THSC neither recommends nor endorses any material or ads that may be encountered when clicking on links that take the reader away from the THSC website. |
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The Road Less Traveled
Mary James
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
In the span of one week, two different home schooling friends from two totally different cities have quoted this passage from Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken." This is not surprising; we home schoolers know quite well that we are in the minority, that we are going against the tide of society in the choices we make for our families. I, for one, am so very thankful that I took the road less traveled by, for that surely has made all the difference! But I am also thankful that while this road is less traveled, it is not untraveled.
My first experience with home schooling was setting my preschooler down at a Little Tikesİ table with some Frank Schaeffer workbooks from a local Christian bookstore. I had a handheld dry erase board, a stack of magazines from which to cut pictures, and a hearty supply of construction paper. Some alphabet flashcards rounded out our education department, and we began our wild adventure. I had listened for more than two years to programs discussing home schooling on Christian radio. I had a vague understanding of the law in Texas--enough to know I could legally teach my child at home. I had no knowledge of required subjects and was completely oblivious to the war that was still being waged in the Texas courts in the early 1990s.
Read the article.... |
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