Just two more weeks! It’s not too late to fit this life-changing event into your family’s summer schedule. (Click on the picture for Convention Details.) Meet great exhibitors such as MyStudyHall.com, Patrick Henry College, and Henty Books on Tape. Shop for all your curriculum and extra-curricular needs in the Exhibit Hall and be inspired by our fantastic lineup of speakers! Worried you won’t be able to decide which workshops to attend because you want to hear them all? You won’t have to miss a thing! Rhino Technologies will be on-site to offer you a recording of each and every session you want to hear!

Join the THSC staff and friends on-site for a relaxing Friday Evening Dinner! After an exciting day of children’s and teen’s programs, adult workshops and shopping, you don’t have to hurry out to eat and then make it back for the evening program. Enjoy, without a rush, a tasty, hot, buffet meal of delicious herb-roasted chicken, baked tilapia with lemon cream, fresh baked rolls, salad, steamed vegetables, wild rice pilaf, and chocolate cake to top it all off! All for just $16.95/person! Fun fellowship, delicious food, a time to relax! Make reservations soon, while space is available, by calling toll-free 888-200-4903.

The home education movement continues to receive recognition across the nation, and as home schoolers participate in the political arena, more freedoms follow. Lindsay Puccio, in a July 20, 2006, Charlottesville Newsplex story, describes some of the latest developments in Virginia. Excerpts follow:

“Laws Make Home Schooling Easier

“The home schooling movement is growing in Virginia, thanks to the help of new regulations that allow parents with only a high school diploma to teach their children.

“Whether it's for religious or academic reasons, home schooling seems to be the trend lately as more and more families decide to forgo the classroom and educate on their own.”

Smoothing the Way is a support group dedicated to serving first-year home schoolers. Each month a topic of specific interest to the new home schooler is offered. Veteran home schooling moms and guest speakers are available to inform and encourage those who have decided to take on the exciting, yet sometimes daunting, task of educating their own children. What a wonderful way to get a great start!

The regular cost of the 10-month program is $35 Smoothing the Way offers a $5 discount to THSC members. Click on the graphic to learn more about Smoothing the Way.

Thanks to Smoothing the Way for being a part of THSC Association’s growing group of benefit providers for its members! See the updated list of benefits.

Begin participating in the benefits of membership immediately!

Congratulations to Cathryn Anderson of Houston, who was the first Texan to correctly answer Who Said This? The quote in the August 2006 issue of the THSC REVIEW was, “To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.”

The quote was by A.A. Milne.

We appreciate the readers of the THSC REVIEW who sent their guesses! We hope that the Texas Home School Coalition REVIEW is a blessing and that you will be watching for the next quotation question. You could be the next winner!

Have you wondered what to do for your preschoolers? Whether they are your only students or only a part of your home school, as you prepare for the coming school year, consider this helpful resource.

For children ages two to four, Before Five in a Row is not a curriculum; it is a rich treasure of creative ideas designed to help you gently, consistently prepare your children for the life- long adventure of learning.

It’s the great question that home school parents of teens eventually face. What will happen after graduation day? Will their children make it in the “real world”? Will they resent their parents’ decisions? Kate Tsubata’s article in The Washington Times tells what one family discovered while writing “Straight Talk to Parents & Teens from Homeschool Graduates.” Excerpts from the Times story follow:

“Candid Grads Reflect on Experience

“Have you ever skipped ahead in a book or a movie to see the ending, just to know if you want to continue? As home-schoolers, wouldn't it be nice to skip ahead to see what a home-school graduate takes away from the experience?

“Jim and Susan Erskine of Canmer, Ky., are 13-year veterans of home-schooling who have long been involved in Web sites and publishing for home-schooling families. They noticed there were few resources available in which a variety of home-school graduates gave their candid reflections on what they gained -- or regretted -- about their education.

“The Erskines sent out a questionnaire and received responses from more than 200 graduates. The answers ‘blew us away,’ Mr. Erskine says.”

THSC Association president Tim Lambert wrote the letter that can be read at the link below, answering Pilot Point’s letter responding to THSC Association’s request that the Denton County DA investigate charges allegedly made by school officials to CPS against a home school family.