CAHE Conference Tonight, 2/28, Frankfort, KY Free Admission

This year, the conference is being held at Buck Run Baptist Church, 3894 Georgetown Road, Frankfort, KY.  The conference begins at 5:30, however the first session does not begin until 6:30.

 CAHE WEBSITE

Frugal Homeschooling
Jennifer Phelps/Susan Foster

Organizing Your Homeschool
Cheri Farley

Homeschool and the Culture
Adam Bishop

Dad's Role in Homeschooling
Joshua Ruwet

The Early Years
Latisa Spradlin

Boost Your Child's Brainpower with Exercise Kim Cornett
Homeschool 101
Stephanie Ruwet

On Demand, Academic Writing for Olders
Kristi Adkins

Homeschooling in Kentucky (CHEK)
Scott Bolin

The Role Nutrition Plays in Homeschool
Kellie Wilder

Homeschooling High School
Sarah Hall

Reluctant Writers
Kristi Adkins

What is Classical Learning
Melanie Hanson

Schooling Multiple Ages
Cheri Farley

How to Manage Dual Credits
Melanie Brewer

Finishing Strong
Victoria Walker

Biblical Parenting
Angela Van Neste

The Principle Approach
Gina Glenn

Scholarships, Grants & Admission Requirements
Monica Wade

Art opportunities in area
CACH

BTB Beyond the Blackboard
Jody Jaques

Cornerstone Tutorials Open Enrollment

Cathy Flowers has been teaching Cornerstone Curriculum for over six years, and Excellence in Writing (IEW) for 14 years. Now she is offering these tutorials locally and online!

"I know it can be hard to keep your older students on a schedule to finish these works and still have regular, thoughtful discussions, or to teach them real composition skills to communicate to a needy world in a compelling and winsome way. To partner with you, I am offering these courses online.

In weekly sessions, students log in to a live, interactive class and learn with video and audio how to write a variety of papers such as essays, research papers, or persuasive papers. I use the Institute for Excellence in Writing methods and materials for composition and literary analysis, with checklists and paper evaluations so students know what to do to write each type of paper. Of course, I teach citation and MLA formatting, too.

Next, we go to "discussion mode" and have live book discussions with Socratic questions about these works, applying these ideas to real-world applications. Students and parents have accesses to recorded sessions to review concepts. With my unique schedule and regular lessons, students finish the course with a firm understanding and application of these world view ideas. It is life-changing!" -- from Cathy Flowers

Enrollment opens March 1.

To learn more about Cornerstone Tutorials, go to my website and see the course descriptions, FAQs, and testimonials:

http://www.cornerstonetutorials.com/

Tell a friend!

-
Cathy Flowers
http://www.cornerstonetutorials.com/
email: tutor.cornerstone@gmail.com

Creation Evidence Expo with Jay Wile

(Thank you to Tina at seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com )

Creation Evidence Expo w Jay Wile

Just passing along. If you have any questions, please email them to
Jennifer, as listed below.

Creation Expo Road Team at
Calvary Baptist Church
1659 Mt. Olivet Road
La Grange, Kentucky
March 2, 2013
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Homeschool families (and everyone else!) are invited to attend the Creation
Evidence Expo at Calvary Baptist Church. Our featured speaker wil l be Dr.
Jay Wile, well-known author and creation scientist. There will be two
morning sessions with questions and answers, a lunch break, and one
afternoon session.

Session 1- Reasonable Faith: The Scientific Case for Christianity

Session 2- The Beasts (Animals in Scripture)

Lunch Break

Session 3- Creation vs Evolution; Religion vs Science or Religion vs
Religion

Everyone who will be staying for lunch is asked to bring a sack lunch. The
church will be providing beverages.

Additionally, Calvary' s teen group
will be providing a hot dog and chili lunch as a fund raiser for Teen Camp
this summer. Donations will be accepted for the hot dog lunch if you choose
to enjoy this option.

Please RSVP or send questions to Jennifer Mitchell at mae1x2@yahoo. com.

Declaration of Intent to Particpate Forms UPDATE from HSLDA

from @tj schmidt, at HSLDA "We at HSLDA have received many calls from homeschool families across Kentucky who have begun receiving the "Declaration of Intent" forms that usually come out around this time of year. As always, you could fill them out and return them declining the services offered. However, you are not legally required to fill these forms out. The schools are only required to send them to you as you are considered a private school under Kentucky law. Since they must document that they have sent the information to every school, they like to receive information back from a homeschool program that you will not be participating. Again, you are not legally required to respond to the forms.

What is new this year is that the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has provided some incorrect information to all of the school districts. The KDE has also included this information in the forms they have revised for this year. The incorrect information is that "Home schools, by their nature, are considered non-profit." While most of us are homeschooling without any expectation of seeing a financial profit within our homeschool program (unless it is in the lives and character of our children), this information is not technically accurate. In order to be considered non profit under Kentucky law you must file as an appropriate organization with the Kentucky Secretary of State. Private homeschool programs that are made up of parents teaching their children at home do not need to file articles of incorporation or do anything to attempt to establish a non profit entity.

HSLDA is contacting the KDE about the incorrect information in their letter and forms. We hope they will immediately take action to correct the misunderstanding they have created across the state. We expect to put this information and the resolution up on our website in the coming days. In the meantime, Kentucky parents don't need to do anything different than they have done in the past. They are free to complete or not complete the "Declaration of Participation" forms they receive from their local school district." 

*PLEASE SHARE"

House Bill 224 passes House, now on to Senate (SB97) ACTION: Call today!

Call tonight or early AM! Lines are open til 11.

HB224 - Increase in Compulsory School Age has passed the Kentucky House. It
will now go to the Senate. There is also a companion bill in the Senate (SB 97)
which will will be voted on in the Senate soon, possibly Friday, so address
those both with one call. We address this every year. It defies personal and
parental choice, it is too expensive for our broke Commonwealth, and it has the
potential to unwilling students to disrupt the education of willing students.
Mostly this is an attempt at a Federal money grab.

Please call the Kentucky Legislative Hotline at 1-800-372-7181

and leave the following messages for:

1) All Senate Leadership (Republican and Democrat)
2) Your Senator

Message: "Please oppose HB224 and SB97. Support parental choice for their own
children."

If you do not know your Senator, they will tell you at the Hotline when you give
your address.

Dare to Dream, Disney on Ice for School Groups

{This is not a CHEK sponsored event and the information contained is for notification purposes only. You or your group are completely responsible for the arrangement of any group performance or field trip. Information on organizing the group, etc. is to be handled directly by the Rupp Arena representative indicated at the bottom of this post.}

Come to the SCHOOL GROUP Performance! Friday, April 19, 2013 at 10:30am Rupp Arena ●

Lexington, KY Get tangled up as Disney on Ice presents DARE TO DREAM! Experience Disney’s hilarious hair-raising escapade, Tangled, as Rapunzel, her unlikely companion Flynn, and Maximus embark on an uproarious journey that takes adventure to new lengths! Boogie to the beat of the bayou with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen in a magical, musical journey that all begins with a fateful kiss. And fanciful dreams become reality as Cinderella meets her Prince Charming, with a glass slipper fit for an unforgettable fantasy come true.

All your favorite princesses take to the ice in a spectacular finale at the ultimate Disney Princess event of a lifetime! Tickets are just $10.50 each!
CLICK HERE FOR A SCHOOL GROUP TICKET ORDER FORM.
  Orders are now being accepted and will be processed in the order received beginning on March 1.

  ORDER EARLY to receive the best seats; tickets are issued for best available at time of purchase. Order by April 9 to receive tickets by mail. NO DISCOUNTS after April 17.

  Your password to enter the site is school, and it is case sensitive.

Call Jana Hatton, Group Sales Manager, at 859.233.4567 x3292 for more information!

Jana L. Hatton Group Sales Manager Lexington Center Corporation 430 West Vine Street Lexington KY 40507 859.233.4567 x3292 859.253.2802 - fax http://www.rupparena.com/groupSales/index.php

OPPOSE House Bill 224, Increase of Compulsory School Age.

Increase Compulsory School Attendance Age House Bill 224 This bill will increase the compulsory attendance age, currently age 16, to age 18 by 2018. We deal with this every year and you pretty much know why this is not a good thing, but here are a few bullet items to consider: * Will increase education costs at a time when Kentucky is dead broke * Takes more decisions out of the hands of parents, where those decisions actually belong * Often keeps disruptive students in a classroom, thereby creating an unfavorable learning environment for willing students * The very notion of "compulsion" is against the free philosophy of American values. Bill Summary: HB 224 AN ACT relating to compulsory school age. Amend KRS 159.010 to provide that, effective July 1, 2017, school attendance shall be compulsory for students between the ages of six and seventeen; provide that, effective July 1, 2018, school attendance shall be compulsory for students between the ages of six and eighteen; provide that only prior to July 1, 2018, parents are permitted to withdraw from school a child under the age of eighteen, under certain conditions; permit, beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, each local board of education on the recommendation of the superintendent and approval of the Kentucky Department of Education to require children residing in the school district's attendance area to attend school until the age of eighteen, except as provided in KRS 159.030; if funds are available, consider an increase in funding for dropout prevention programs; express intent to provide funds necessary to implement programs to comply with increased compulsory attendance age; amend KRS 159.020 to conform. Call the Legislative Message Line in Frankfort: 1-800-372-7181 TTY Message Line: 1-800-896-0305 Tell the operator you would like to leave a message: (They will take your name and address and ask for your message) Message: "Please support freedom of parents to make decisions for their children. Please OPPOSE House Bill 224, Increase of Compulsory School Age." Directed to: 1. ALL House Leadership (Republican and Democrat) 2. YOUR Representative

Homeschooling & Religious Liberty --comments from Mike Farris

from Michael Farris of HSLDA (via his Facebook page)

Sobering thoughts from the Romeike brief

Having immersed myself for about 8 days in writing a brief for the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum), I wanted to share some insights I gained into the view of our own government toward the rights of homeschooling parents in general.

You will benefit from some context.

The U.S. law of asylum allows a refugee to stay in the United States permanently if he can show that he is being persecuted for one of several specific reasons. Among these are persecution for religious reasons and persecution of a “particular social group.”
In most asylum cases, there is some guesswork necessary to figure out the government’s true motive—but not in this case. The Supreme Court of Germany declared that the purpose of the German ban on homeschooling was to “counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.”

My Son Give Me Your Heart by Kevin Swanson

My Son, Give Me Your Heart!
Author: Kevin Swanson
Published in: ICHE News Magazine (Illinois)
Published on: May. 1, 2003
reprinted with permission
Have you ever packed everything into the car for a vacation, pulled out of the driveway, accelerated up on to the freeway, and suddenly realized that you had remembered everything except for. . . one of the children? Have you ever bought a used car only to find out after signing the paperwork that the engine was missing? That is very much the way education has developed over the last century. It seems that we have remembered everything, except for what is vital.

One of the vital aspects of education that homeschooling is beginning to revive is the principle of relationship-based learning. This principle is nothing new. The book of Proverbs is dedicated to the topic of educating a young person. It is full of character lessons communicated to a son by his father and his mother (in the last chapter). There is far more in this book than character lessons. It presents a penetrating and powerful methodology for education. It is education rooted in a relationship, carried from the heart of a father to the heart of a son. The father's teaching is caring, intimate, open and honest, even desperate and demanding at points. He instructs, warns, encourages, admonishes, exhorts, pleads, and reasons with his son.
But the core of this relational method of education comes out in Proverbs 23:26. Here the father breaks out with something of a plea, a demand, and heart-deep desire. "My son, give me your heart! Let your eyes observe my ways."

Declaration of Participation Forms...What's a Homeschooler To Do?

Legal Brief

[12]Tj Schmidt, HSLDA Staff Attorney

Over the next couple of months many homeschool families in Kentucky will receive
a letter and several forms from their local school district that they will be
requested to fill out. These forms are commonly referred to as the “Declaration
of Participation” forms. They are named this because of the Declaration of
Participation Report that each district must submit to the Commonwealth in order
to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

The reason homeschool families receive these forms, as many of you know, is that
under Kentucky law homeschoolers are classified as private schools.. Federal law
requires that each district notify local private schools of certain programs
that they may be eligible for.

Homeschool families typically will receive two sets of forms. One form is for
Title III programs which cover limited English proficiency and immigrant student
population. The other form is for Title IIA and IID, Title IV and IDEA-B. This
form covers various federal training programs for teachers, enhanced education
through technology, safe and drug free schools, as well as special education
services (IDEA-B).

While these forms ask homeschoolers whether they want to participate in these
programs, receiving them does not mean you are eligible for any of these
programs. With the exception of a few unique situations, generally most
homeschoolers will only be eligible for special education services.

Many times we will receive contact from member families who receive a stern
letter from their district demanding that they must complete and return these
forms. While the district is required to send these forms to homeschoolers, you
are not required to complete and return these forms. If you want to participate
in a particular program, or just want to return them to the district, you can
fill them out. Otherwise you can put the forms aside.

It is always a good idea to read everything you receive from your local district
before tossing it. If you have any question about material you receive from your
district, and you are a member of HSLDA, you can always contact our legal
department for assistance.

The Holy Grail of Getting Your Husband Involved in Homeschooling

The Holy Grail of Getting Your Husband Involved in Homeschooling

Todd Wilson

Let me just say up front that my passion is showing dads how to be more involved in their families and especially in their homeschools. Now if I were writing to a bunch of men, I’d give them all kinds of practical ideas and thoughts on how to do that. But this time, I’m going to address all you moms who are reading this. After all, if a dad isn’t very involved, he probably isn’t going to be reading this article anyway.

I’m going to share with you the holy grail of homeschooling - how to get your husband more involved in your life, your family, and your homeschool. I can see you shaking your head in disbelief. But I’m serious. What I’m going to share with you has the power to transform your life, your marriage, and especially your homeschool.

Actually, it’s not all that difficult in theory. In fact, it all boils down to one very simple principle. I could be putting myself out of business by sharing it with you because it’s that simple. Are you ready for it?

Here it is: 

Fathers Your Faith Matters to Your Family

Your Faith Matters to Your Family

by Eric Jones

As I was reading through the story of Noah this morning, I had some interesting thoughts about the importance of a father's faith and how it can bring blessing and protection to his entire family. Men, our faith matters.

Noah was a righteous man and was considered blameless. So when God decided to purge the earth of the evil that man had created, He recognized Noah and made plans to save him. However, we see that God ended up saving more than just Noah. He also decided to save Noah’s wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives.

It is interesting that scripture does not mention that any of these family members were righteous and blameless or walking with God. So why were they spared? Was it because God had to repopulate the earth and needed them for that task? God could have started all over with just Noah and his wife.

Was it because the sons helped their father build the ark and this was their reward? Was it the faith of the sons and their wives that saved them? In Hebrews, it only mentions that it was the faith of Noah that actually saved his entire family from the pain and destruction of the epic flood.