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A Vacation to Remember
 by Anne Gebhart
What do you get when you have nearly 4,000 home schoolers, 175 vendors, 13 top-notch speakers, and excellent children and teen programs? An amazing home school family conference, of course! But, what if you add some extras, such as an exciting field trip to a working ranch, discounted tickets to popular area attractions, and engaging entertainment by popular children's author John Erickson? You have not only an amazing home school conference, but also the perfect family vacation!
The Texas Home School Coalition's 2007 State Convention and Family Conference was held August 16-18 at the Waterway Marriott hotel in The Woodlands. It has become a yearly tradition for many home school families wanting to make last-minute curriculum purchases, while scheduling in some end-of-summer fun before buckling down to begin their school year.
Watch for a pictorial review next week!
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THSC 2007 Leadership Training Conference
Home School Leaders are Cordially Invited!
October 26-28
Join leaders from across the state for a time of inspirational and practical workshops about improving your home school group.
If you are not a group leader, encourage and facilitate your leaders' attendance!
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Lamberts to Speak at San Angelo Meeting
Tim and Lyndsay Lambert will speak at the meeting. Tim will address What Every Texas Home Schooler Needs to Know, and Lyndsay will speak on Homeschooling: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Area home schoolers are invited to attend. Childcare will be available for $2/child for children under age 10. For more information, call Vanessa Simon at (325) 658-7898 or visit the Web site of San Angelo Christian Home School Association. |
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NEA Passes Home School Resolution
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 The National Education Association recently held its 2007 convention in Philadelphia and passed a number of resolutions, including one on home schooling. Below is the national teacher's union's position on what should be adopted by each state regarding home education. This is a reminder of why we must be actively on guard to defend our freedom to homeschool.
"B-75. Home Schooling. The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being born by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.
"The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools...."
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You Are Cordially Invited to Join Us
at the Greater Waco Christian Home Educators' Meeting
 Tim and Lyndsay Lambert will be speaking at the Greater Waco Christian Home Educators' meeting September 20, in Waco. Their topics will be Homeschooling: A Vision for the Family and Learning to Love Learning.
The meeting will be at
Highland Baptist Church
3014 Maple Ave.
For more information, e-mail president@gwche.org or click on the graphic. |
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Constitution Day - September 17
 September 17 is Constitution Day. Created in 2004 upon passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd, this holiday was formerly known as "Citizenship Day." All federally funded educational institutions are required to provide educational programming about the Constitution on September 17 or on an adjacent weekday. As home schoolers who already concentrate on the true history of our nation, we need no government prods to teach our children the importance of the Constitution, but the activities and plans offered at various Web sites can make our planning much easier!
Observe this important date by making sure you and your students understand what the Constitution is and why it is so important. To find great free resources, click on the graphic. For more free Constitution Day activities, click here. |
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Wear Your Freedom Proudly!
 Visit the Texas Home School Coalition Association store and buy a great t-shirt advertising that you homeschool in Texas. The shirts are made of grey cotton, of course! Children's t-shirts cost $10. Adult-sized shirts are $12; larger adult sizes are $14.
THSC Association now has three great designs to help you brag about being a home schooler in the best place possible:
Free in Texas design
Front: I homeschool in Texas...
Back: ...where people are free!
President design
Front: Texas wants another President ...
Back: ... so I homeschool.
Mighty Texans design
Front: Everywhere we go,
People want to know
Who we are, so we tell them
Back: We are the Texans,
the mighty, mighty Texans,
and we're homeschooled, and we love it!
Visit the THSC store for more great home schooling helps!
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It Doesn't Have to Cost a Fortune!
Home school parents in the Kansas City area discuss how they make it work on single incomes, and in one case, as a single parent.
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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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Response from the Consumer Affairs Office of the DFPS
Tim Lambert wrote a letter to the Lubbock CPS office and the Slaton police department in August, in response to the unlawful entry into the residence of a home schooling family in Slaton. This week's letter is from the Office of Consumer Affairs for the Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin and responds to Mr. Lambert's concerns.
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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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:: 806-744-4441 | |
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Conquer Unitophobia!
Mary James
Unitophobia - fear of unit studies.... I have suffered from this malady for most of my nine years of home schooling. Discovering the real root of the illness (fear of spending countless hours at the library searching for materials) did nothing to relieve the problem. My first attempt at unit studies was something of a compromise-I used packaged unit studies and just searched for the books on the reading list. Today, I am proud to say that my seventh grader and I are working our way through a monumental study, and I look forward to each new section with anticipation and excitement. Am I cured? Well ... let us just say I am in treatment. (Hello, my name is Mary.... I am afraid of unit studies.....) My preferred method of therapy-the Internet! I am going to outline the work I did in preparation for this particular unit study. I hope it will help other unitophobes to see that the Internet is a wonderful research tool that can help you develop the backbone of a delightful-and less intimidating-unit study on absolutely any subject.
Read the article.... |
Study Guides and Strategies
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The San Angelo Christian Home School Association (SACHSA) will host a meeting September 15 at the 
