Lifelines: A Short List of Homeschool Support Resources!

Hopefully you're getting settled into your routine and digging in for a season of joy and learning with your little blessings! Or at least, hopefully all your hopes and plans for the fall are not falling apart before your very eyes, and you're seeing God's grace and Providence as you rise to the calling He gave you with your kids! Either way... 

I thought this week would be a good time to suggest a few "life-lines," or resources that I have utilized over the years and have given our family help, hope, and encouragement.

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)

If I were to recommend one organization to join as a home schooler, I would tell you to join HSLDA. I am personally acquainted with several of their staff and have been associated with this organization literally since 5th grade. Now I'm in my, ahem, early thirties with three kids, and HSLDA has only grown in my estimation!

HSLDA is a nation-wide, multi-faceted organization that believes every child is unique and should be able to learn in ways that meet their needs. They believe that parents--not the government--are qualified to pursue the best interests of their children and that with home school, parents have the freedom to personalize education to realize the full potential of their kids. HSLDA advocates for freedom to home school and offers support for every stage of your home school journey. 

There are three parts to HSLDA: 

• Legal advocacy: protecting your right to home school in court, advocates for home school freedom in state legislatures, and works to advance home schooling in the public arena. Through the years, HSLDA has been critical in maintaining parental rights and freedoms in home schooling in the state of New Mexico. 
• Educational Support: Offering personal guidance from highly trained consultants, HSLDA offers answers for every stage of home schooling, from getting started, to learning disabilities, to high school. I highly recommend utilizing this resource if you join the HSLDA community!
• Community: HSLDA believes in the strength of community, and through combined efforts, it is possible for families to enjoy the freedom to pursue the joy and success of home education.

As Christians, we often discuss submission to the government and "seeking all options" when trying to fight injustice--HSLDA is an organization of exactly that. They are experts in constitutional law, willing to fight for home school rights through all legal channels to maintain and expand our freedom to follow the calling in the education of our children. 

Christian Association of Parent Educators (CAPE-NM)

If I were to recommend a second organization for you to join, it would be CAPE. With various annual events and regular communication regarding NM laws affecting home school, CAPE is indispensable for keeping you informed and encouraged as a home educator in New Mexico. 

Cape works with the PED (Public Education Department) of New Mexico on behalf of home schoolers to guide families through the legal process of home schooling and to equip parents with current information about New Mexico laws which affect home education. They work with the legislature to provide the best possible home school laws, as well as with local school districts (which sometimes do not have accurate information about the law and on home education!).

While supportive of all home education, CAPE specifically believes that God gives our children as gifts and that they need to be nurtured, discipled, educated, loved, and prepared for their future in the Lord. 

CAPE hosts multiple events throughout the year (usually!) and provides resources, an annual state-wide home school conference, high school graduation ceremony, and area-specific email alerts. I especially suggest you attend the home school conference--I attended as a child and I've attended now as a parent (my husband and I love going to this even together!) and I always leave refreshed, energized, and excited about my next year of home school with a bundle of new resources and ideas!

Almost every state has an organization (or multiple organizations!) like CAPE (Colorado has CHEC, Texas has THSC, Arizona has AFHE) and I've utilized each for various things when CAPE hasn't had resources available when I needed them--so don't feel constrained to our state for support! My parents first home school conference when they began home schooling me in the 90’s was an Arizona conference—and my mom will tell you, it was foundational for how the Lord directed our home education through the years! 

HomeschoolSummits.com and Generations

Speaking of home school conferences, HomeschoolSummits.com offers online conferences and summits (most of them are free of charge, but you can purchase the option to re-watch or skip and then watch later all the sessions; I think it's about $20 to have access to all sessions, vender exhibits, etc. for a full year, and it's well worth it!). Until real-life conferences are back on the table, you can't beat HomeschoolSummits.com for accessibility, cost, and convenience—and the content is stellar!

I "attended" a virtual home school conference this spring, right in the middle of the initial COVID lockdown, and it was FANTASTIC. The topic was "choosing curriculum," and I couldn't believe how helpful every single session was! In my youth, I remember my mom spending hours flipping through resources in the physical vendor exhibit hall at one of the massive churches in Albuquerque where the Home School Conference was held. That exhibit hall has dwindled now, with all the online resources supposedly taking its place; and I've missed it terribly. The homeschoolsummits.com conference was able to provide helpful sessions comparing the strengths and weaknesses of various curricula, ideas for how to teach multiple age-groups simultaneously, how to infuse a biblical worldview into every area of education, what discipleship looks like in the home, and so much more! I would never want to replace a real-life conference permanently, but I highly recommend these virtual conferences for specialized questions and certainly for this season while everything is shut down!

A sister organization of HomeschoolSummits.com is Generations: Passing on the Faith

Generations is a radio program, home school resource, curriculum and book publisher, and ministry. Their vision is to pass on the faith to the next generation through the biblical family, discipleship, and education. They hope to equip parents who love God and desire to teach their children every day another God they love.

I have especially enjoyed some of their American History Resources, including American Faith, a series of biographical sketches various people throughout our nation's history who feared God. This book is the single most encouraging and convicting book I've read in the past year. (We aren’t using it for lessons—yet! I was reading for my own edification and continuing education!) Every resource and commentary provided by Generations communicates with the underling foundation of discipleship of your children as the heart and soul behind every home school and educational activity, which I found incredibly encouraging and refreshing!

This post was written for the Home School Corner of women about His business, a women's ministry blog for Crossroads Bible Church. All opinions and recommendations are my own and I was not paid or sponsored by any of the organizations or groups listed above for my recommendation.