What does your family talk about around the table? Share your dinnertime ideas as a comment below for others to benefit from.

Commentary: Why We Homeschool Our Children
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | 11:50 AM
by Aretha Taggart, as told to Yolanda Sangweni
When most people think of homeschooling, they think rich celebs and White families. But figures from the National Home Education Research Institute show that more Black families are gaining in on the practice. In 2007, an estimated 220,000 Black children were homeschooled, compared to 84,000 in 1999. Black students make up nearly 10% of the estimated two million students who are homeschooled nationwide–more than any other minority group.

Albert and Aretha Taggart decided no one could do a better job at educating their four children than they could. So Aretha left her corporate job and began teaching her children at home six years ago. Here she shares why her family made the choice to bring the classroom into their home.
Read more: http://www.essence.com/lifestyle/parenting/commentary_why_we_choose_to_homeschool.php#ixzz0gEPjEQ9P

Resources
National Black Home Educators (NBHE)
The National Black Home Educators is a nationwide organization dedicated to mentoring parents and training youth.
http://www.nbhe.net

Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV)
On the “Support” page, HEAV provides listings of Virginia support groups by county and city.
http://www.heav.org/support/index.html

Become an HEAV member and save an additional $25! HEAV members save $25 on their HSLDA memberships–that brings your savings up to $50!

When you sign up, write “Affiliate 2294016″ in the space marked “Other” on Section 2, Question B (the question labeled “I received this application from”), and HEAV will receive $20 as well (new members only)!

We recommend homeschooling families join HSLDA. Even if you never experience legal trouble yourself, your HS LDA membership will help enable other homeschooling families to get the legal help they need and will help defend our right to homeschool. Joining HSLDA is a great way to support homeschooling freedoms nationwide and in Virginia at the same time!

Have your own homeschool stories? Share them here! Send them to kloop@heav.org, or leave them as a comment.

Dear HEAV,

This is one I had to share: Last month we finished studying the postal system and began studying the fire department. We began with how the Pilgrims used the bucket brigade to extinguish fires and so on. My children had questions I could not answer, such as, “How long are the hoses on the trucks? How many forest fires have there been in Virginia this year?” and others.

Instead of looking up the answers for them, I asked them to write a letter to the fire department and see if their questions would be answered. I thought it would be good practice after learning about the postal system. Three weeks passed….

Tuesday afternoon the doorbell rang. I thought something terrible had happened, but instead I was pleasantly surprised. The fire department had come to our front door for an “in-person,” 30-minute, hands-on class (fire truck, ambulance, and four wonderful people). We were so shocked and overwhelmed! They said they would’ve called, but we didn’t include our phone number in the letter. WOW!

We’re working on a HUGE thank-you letter for all four fire fighters.

Note to self: Homeschooling can be full of pleasant surprises, and be careful what you ask your children to do!  8-) Amy Pickett

Couple who fled to Tennessee fearing persecution for keeping their
children out of school win first case of its kind in US

A US judge has granted political asylum to a German family who said
they had fled the country to avoid persecution for home schooling their
children.

In the first reported case of its kind, Tennessee immigration judge
Lawrence Burman ruled that the family of seven have a legitimate fear of
prosecution for their beliefs. Germany requires parents to enroll their
children in school in most cases and has levied fines against those who
educate their children at home.

Christians Uwe Romeike, a piano teacher, and his wife, Hannelore, moved
to Morristown, Tennessee, in 2008 after German authorities fined them
thousands of euros for keeping their children out of school and sent
police to escort them to classes, Romeike said. They had been holding
classes in their home.

Along with thousands of torture victims, political dissidents, members
of religious minorities and other persecuted groups who win political
asylum every year, the Romeike family will now be free to live and work
in the US. The case does not create a legal precedent unless the US
government appeals and a higher immigration court hears the case.

“Home schoolers in Germany are a particular social group, which is one
of the protected grounds under the asylum law,” said Mike Connelly,
attorney for the Home School Legal Defence Association, who argued the
case. “This judge looked at the evidence, he heard their testimony, and
he felt that the way Germany is treating home schoolers is wrong. The
rights being violated here are basic human rights.”

In 2006 the Romeikes pulled their children out of a state school in
Bissingen, Germany, in protest of what they deemed an anti-Christian
curriculum.

They said textbooks presented ideas and language that conflicted with
their Christian beliefs, including slang terms for sex acts and images
of vampires and witches, while the school offered what they described as
ethics lessons from Islam, Buddhism and other religions. The eldest son
got into fights in school and the eldest daughter had trouble studying.

“I think it’s important for parents to have the freedom to chose the way
their children can be taught,” Romeike told the Associated Press.

About 1.5 million US children are taught at home. In Morristown, a town
of about 27,000, the Romeikes have connected with other home schooling
families, organising field trips and other activities.

The German consul general for the southeastern US said in a statement
that mandatory school attendance ensures a high education standard for
all children, adding that parents have many educational options.

In 2008, the US government received more than 47,000 applications for
political asylum and granted 10,743, including four from Germany.

Connelly said this was the first time home schooling had been the
central issue in a US political asylum case.

guardian.co.uk (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Last week, I wrote about keeping intent on the mission God has given to us as Christians. All week long, I’ve been trying to write the sequel. And all week long, I’ve had the hardest time keeping focused on the mission myself!

One night I felt particularly frustrated. I’d worked hard all day, but it seemed I had gotten nothing done at all. Here I was, starting to paint the office at 7 p.m. when I was supposed to have begun right after lunch. In the back of my mind, I also knew a seemingly never-ending pile of work still needed done.

I plugged in a sermon and began painting. As I listened, I grew more and more convicted. My problem became clear: my eyes were on me. My failure to keep focused on the Lord and His mission had expressed itself in my being short with my mom, brother, and several other dear people, not to mention feeling like giving up and hiding my head in a hole like an ostrich.

Lesson for the week: Part of keeping focused on the mission has to do with continually surrendering our own plans and desires and remembering we’re not here for us!

Here is how he describes the article’s purpose:

“The purpose of this article is twofold, to show that the “harms of homeschooling” that West alleges basically have no foundation in research evidence and to note that West’s proposal for the state to control homeschool parents and their children is based on a worldview that it antithetical to one held by a significant portion of Americans.”

Read “The Harms of Homeschooling? Where Are the Premises?” here.

Always place the mission first. A good soldier lives — and dies — for his mission. He doesn’t let hunger, fatigue, fear, personal agendas, or anything else distract him from the mission.

The thought of placing the mission first struck a chord because our family had been examining and discussing missions and goals for the New Year. We’d also recently heard a sermon that pointed out that God has given all of us mission statements in His Word. He’s told us to trust, love, and rest in Him. To rejoice always. To serve one another in love.

Now here was the mission theme once again, this time with a soldier analogy. I walked away from the display with a thousand thoughts whirling through my head. God calls us soldiers too. What mission were we to place first? What mission has He called us to as Christians? Could other missions — even good missions — be keeping us from that? How do we keep focused on His mission? How do we live trusting, loving, and resting in Him? What would it look like if we did?

More to come next week!