More than 50,000 children in Tennessee are home-schooled, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Their parents save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year by opting to handle their children’s education at their own expense — while still paying taxes to support public schools.

In a world where home-schooling families were not dismissed as misfits and paranoiacs, public schools would be high-fiving them for helping keep government budgets balanced. Instead, home-schoolers remain an object of contempt and discrimination, at least among some in the public education establishment.

Witness the slight, calculated loosening by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association of broad restrictions against home-schoolers who want to take part in sports at public schools.

Read the full article at TimesFreePress.com!

Some home-schooled students will be eligible to try out for Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association teams next year. The state association’s Legislative Council approved a bylaw on Wednesday that will make that possible. The students must meet a list of 10 requirements, including registering with a local director of schools or a private-school headmaster. Read the rest of this story at The Tennessean.

Two Signal Mountain home school students, Grace Hughbanks, a senior, and Caitlyn Sudkamp, a junior, recently competed in the David H. Gray Regional History Fair in Chattanooga and the Tennessee History Day held in Nashville, winning the opportunity to compete at the 2009 National History Fair in Maryland.

This year, the theme for National History Day is “The Individual in History”. Miss Hughbanks, the champion of the state-wide competition, in the exhibit category, has competed for eight years. Her chosen individual project is Marquis de Lafayette’s military and diplomatic work in the American Revolution. “Last year, I had to write an encomium on Lafayette and he stayed in my mind as a possible topic for this year … I was also interested in studying the American Revolution in depth, and doing a project on Lafayette required me to do that,” Hughbanks explained. Sudkamp, who placed second at the state competition, decided to do her project on Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate states during the war to prevent Southern independence.

“I chose the topic because he is a relative of mine and I was curious to know more about him.” This is her ninth year of competition.

Each participant’s project must explain and educate people on their topic and are encouraged to use a wide variety of sources and other visual aids. Although both students worked diligently on their project year-round, they still occasionally modify their presentations through each level of competition. “I try to carefully consider the judges’ comments. If more than one judge says that it would be good to change something, I will probably change it. Unless there is something drastically wrong, or unless the text and photos get rained on (which has happened), I try not to change much at all,” Hughbanks stated. “[The judges] look for things like how much research was done, is there a good mix of primary and secondary sources, is it a wellrounded project in terms of information, is it visually pleasing, is it a good topic, is the project historically accurate, is it easy to read and follow the story, is the student presenting her opinion and thesis clearly or is it just a page torn from a history book,” Sudkamp adds.

Through the history competitions, the students have had opportunities to gain valuable skills and encounter memorable experiences, such as Sukkamp’s research. “This year I was able to get into the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and look at some original documents written by Jefferson Davis, which was really, really cool.” Hughbanks also had an experience to remember, when she encountered a veteran of Dunkirk. “In 10th grade, when I did my project on Dunkirk, I wrote to the Dunkirk Veterans’ Association (DVA) in Britain, asking for firsthand accounts from any veterans of Dunkirk. A few weeks later, Mr. G.R. Pendleton, the secretary of the Leeds Founder Branch of the DVA, sent a letter of his own Dunkirk experience, several cards of images of Dunkirk, and a book of firsthand accounts.”

Miss Hughbanks and Miss Sudkamp are eagerly anticipating the National History Day where they will be among approximately 400 other exhibits, authored by students from states all over the country.

State-licensed day care centers and police departments had turned up their noses at the qualifications of several homeschool grads, claiming they hadn’t really graduated from high school because they had their credentials from an umbrella school.

Gov. Phil Bredesen signed the bill to end this unfavorable trend.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mike Bell, a homeschool dad who got his start in the affairs of the state legislature by being engaged as a lobbyist for THEA.

We should praise God that the law has been altered to give this largely Christian group of families the credit that the marketplace is already given to their graduating children.

Here is the bulk of the language of the less-than-one-page piece of legislation passed by both houses of the General Assembly:

Section 1-3-1__. Notwithstanding any rule, regulation, or other provision of law to the contrary, a high school diploma awarded by a school as defined by Section 49-50- 801 or Section 49-6-3050 in recognition of completion of secondary educational requirements shall be considered by all departments, agencies, commissions or other such entities of state and local government as having all the rights and privileges of a high school diploma awarded by a public school system. This section shall not apply to state lottery proceeds as provided in title 49, chapter 4, part 9.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.

Included in the Tennessee History collection are books, DVD’s, audios, reproducible study guides, computer programs and maps. A direct link to Learning Resource Center materials can be found on the library’s website (www.lib.chattanooga.gov). Scroll down on the right hand side of the homepage and click on the Learning Resource Center link.

Patrons with current library cards can place holds on materials from the Learning Resource Center’s Tennessee History collection. These items can be placed on hold and sent to any of the library’s five branches for pick-up. Standard check out policies apply, however, items may qualify for extended due dates and limits may be amended. The Learning Resource Center is located in a closed area at the Downtown Library. If you would like to browse through the collection, call 757-5314 to more details.

Check out some sample materials from the Tennessee History collection:

• Boraas, Tracey. Creek: Farmers of the Southeast. An introduction to the history, social structure, customs, beliefs, ceremonies, and day-to-day life of the Creek Indians who originally lived in the southeastern United States. (Grades 3-5)

The courthouse in Dayton is the site of the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial.”

• Graves, Renee. Scopes Trial. A description of the historic 1925 trial in which a Tennessee high school biology teacher was accused of violating state law by teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. (Grades 3-5)
• Heinrichs, Ann. Tennessee. Introduces the geography, history, government, people, culture, and attractions of Tennessee. (Grades 4-7)
• Marsh, Carole. Great State of Tennessee: A Map of Tennessee for Kids. A picture map that lists state facts, trivia, and historical events. A timeline that goes along with this map is also available for check out. (Grades: Elementary level)
• Marsh, Carole. Tennessee Native Americans. A teacher’s resource guide that uses the alphabet to introduce children to Native American ideas and culture. (Grades: Teacher resource – elementary level)
• Mattern, Joanne. Peyton Manning. In this biography, readers find out how Peyton Manning overcame challenges to become one of the most popular and famous quarterbacks in college and the NFL. (Grades 3-7)
• McKissack, Pat. Abby Takes a Stand. In this historical fiction novel, Gee recalls for her grandchildren what happened in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee, when she, aged ten, passed out flyers while her cousin and other adults held sit-ins at restaurants and lunch counters to protest segregation. (Grades 3-6)
• Notgrass, Ray. Exploring Tennessee. Exploring Tennessee is a comprehensive Tennessee history curriculum containing 150 lessons divided into thirty units of five lessons each. It is written from a Christian perspective and designed for use as a family study of Tennessee state history. (Grades 4-8)
• Simbeck, Rob. Tennessee State Symbols. Tennessee State Symbols is an easy-to understand quick read that acquaints the reader with the state’s official symbols. (Grades 6-12)
• Tekiela, Stan. Birds of Tennessee: Field Guide. A colorful field guide to the birds in Tennessee, which can be used on nature hikes or bird watching in your own backyard. (Grades 4-12)

Rally Day event March 24 gives chance for students to converse with legislators

As we come to this milestone in the history of THEA, our 25th anniversary of working together with and for Tennessee’s home educating families, we ask you to join with us for our Capitol Hill Rally & Reception Day on Tuesday, March 24th to celebrate what God has done!

THEA was birthed in the legal and legislative battles of the mid-1980’s, and so on Rally Day we will be thanking God for His protection these past 25 years giving us freedom to grow as home educating families, to raise and educate our children with God-given and God-protected freedom. As home schooling families, we have together built a community with many activities for our children to learn and grow, we have reached out to support each other as we walked this “road less traveled”. We’ve had the privilege to participate in the growth of, in the growing up of homeschooling, in all its unique and myriad activities, within our state and across our nation.

On Rally Day 2009, we will celebrate the building of a strong foundation supporting thousands of Tennessee home educating families, as we look ahead to and pray for God’s blessings in the next 25 years.

What exactly is THEA?

Founded in January 1984, as the modern homeschooling movement began, the Tennessee Home Education Association, THEA, like all of the state homeschool organizations across America, was founded by home educating parents to protect our right to determine our children’s education.

As the modern homeschooling movement burst on the American scene 25 + years ago, a tremendous battle for the control of education and the authority of parents to homeschool erupted in every state across America. As in the others, in Tennessee the battle for homeschool freedom was on two fronts: The state legislature and the courtroom.

Looking back: the battle fought in Tennessee courts

In the early to mid-1980’s, five homeschooling families in Tennessee were charged with truancy with the parents facing the threat of jail time. Two sets of parents spent time incarcerated in Tennessee jails for their homeschooling. Two of these homeschooling families were charged with abuse and neglect, which in Tennessee law can be tied to the truancy charge. With the abuse and neglect conviction, children can be taken from their parents and placed in foster care.

One of our families in Hamilton County charged with truancy, abuse and neglect sent their children across the state line to Georgia to hide them from the state. One of these families, as they fought for their parental rights in the Tennessee courts, had to sell their home to pay their attorney fees. Think about the fear of losing your children or losing your home in your battle to guard your freedom to homeschool? These families paid the price of our freedom.

The battle fought in the Legislature

With the ruling of two judges involved in these court cases, the legal battle moved from the courtroom to the General Assembly. The judges ruled that the Tennessee compulsory attendance statute, the law regulating all schooling in Tennessee, was “unconstitutionally vague” because it did not clearly define what constituted a private school. Home educators were quite logically asserting that their homeschools were private schools. The judges’ rulings mandated that our state legislature rewrite the compulsory attendance statue to clearly define private schools.

Homeschoolers knew this was our God-given opportunity to impact our state lawmakers to include home education in our state law and clearly delineate the rights of parents to home school.

The battle was intense. While we still had no homeschool law in Tennessee, brave families testified before our Senate Education Committee, explaining how they educated their children, showing them their curriculum, their daily schedules, even test results. We called our legislators, wrote them and traveled to the Capitol numerous times to meet individually with them.

It was intense.

The Tennessee Department of Education and Tennessee Education Association (the teacher’s union) did not want Tennessee law to give parents this freedom, so they worked very hard against us, lobbying for as much regulation of home schools by the TN Department of Education as possible.

Tennessee’s current home school law passed in spring of 1985. While we know that it is not the most lenient home school law in America, we know and can be thankful that in Tennessee, we have freedom to home school within boundaries that are not too burdensome or restrictive. When we are truly home educating, we can do so without prosecution, without charges of truancy, threat of jail or loss of our children to the state.

THEA Capitol rally and reception day

Rally Day was born in March 1985. Even before the home education law passed our state legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Lamar Alexander in May 1985, THEA hosted our first Rally Day at the Tennessee state Capitol. Our purpose was to inform our legislators of just what we were about in our homeschooling.

Claiborne said, “Let’s bring the good report of home education to them. Let’s rally Tennessee’s home school families to the Capitol to meet our legislators, to showcase our children’s school work, science projects, art work, and extracurricular activities.” Our enemies had launched many rumors about us, making false claims that not only were we not qualified to teach our own children, but many of us we were not even attempting to teach our children — that we only kept them home to send them to work in full-time jobs. Since this is truancy and not what we are about, we determined to “bring the good report” of what we were about.

THEA reserved the cafeteria in the Legislative Plaza for an evening presentation about home education. Families, with some trepidation as our law still did not allow home education, came from across the state to display their curriculum, their schoolwork, their science and 4-H exhibits, artwork and school projects. Support groups provided the food, while homeschooled young ladies served our legislators home-made treats at a reception.

Families met their legislators and explained to them their unique style of education.

Rally planned for Tuesday, March 24

Every year since, THEA has hosted a Day on Capitol Hill for the very same purpose, to inform our legislators of the benefits of home education, to “bring the good report of home education” to them. Now we rent the War Memorial Auditorium, or WMA, and gather from all across Tennessee to celebrate homeschooling.

This year, we’ll gather on Tuesday, March 24, in the WMA on Capitol Hill for our program which begins at 8:45 a.m. and concludes at 11 a.m. Together we will thank God for preserving our homeschooling freedom these 25 years and allowing us to grow as families and as a movement, as a community.

THEA is made up of seven chapters across Tennessee with tremendous support offered in each chapter, including Web sites, chat lists, beginning homeschool help, monthly newsletters, annual curriculum fairs of both new and used materials, support groups, science and academic fairs, spelling and geography bees co-ops, tutorials, sports teams, mock trial teams, speech and debate clubs and competitions, beautiful graduation ceremonies — in other words, support of every kind. On Rally Day, homeschool families will come from every chapter, from all across Tennessee to join together for this 25th anniversary celebration.

During our Rally Day program on the stage of the War Memorial Auditorium, the THEA Honor Band with homeschooled student musicians from across the state will again wow us with their amazing talent and fabulous performance. Legislators will be honored. outstanding students, two from each of the THEA chapters, will be congratulated. Speakers will address us, including the Junior and Senior first place winners of the Sara Lee Harris /Apologetics Oratory Contest (see more about this below).

Speech & debate highlighted

Once again Rally Day will highlight two speech and debate activities sponsored by the Christian Communicators of Tennessee, CCT, THEA’s sister organization. See: http://www.cctennessee.org/ and http://www.tnhea.org/ for more information.

Volunteer to help?

We need You! If you wish to help in some way to make this Day effective and powerful, please call me, Lana Thornton, at 615-293-7140. If I can’t take your call, please leave me a message with your phone number and I’ll be sure to get back to you!

Join with THEA as we celebrate 25 years of working together to protect and promote home education and as we Rally together at our state Capitol to bring the good report of home education to our lawmakers. Together we will be bringing a strong message to those who make our laws that homeschooling is thriving in Tennessee, that the rights of parents must be protected and guaranteed by our state laws and we are here to hold our lawmakers accountable!

Rally Day To-do List

• Visits with legislators

  One of the most important parts of our Rally Day is you — our homeschool families — scheduling appointments with your state senator and state representative.

  We are still about “bringing the good report of home education to them.” Your personal visit with your lawmakers is the best, most effective way to do this.

  Please do this.

  Call ahead, call now and make a 10- 15 minute appointment with your two legislators.

  Dads and moms, take your children. Tell the legislators that you wish to meet them as you’ll be on Capitol Hill for Rally Day. Plan to bring them a letter from your children, thanking them for their service to our state.

  Take your camera and have a picture made with them. They are your representatives. They want to know you, their constituents. Know that you represent homeschoolers, knowing that you are continuing to protect our freedoms to homeschool in Tennessee.

  Here’s a “Find Your Legislator” link; use your voter registration card to check your district number. Go to this link: , or call 615-741-3011, the legislative information number.

• Cookie delivery

  The West Tennessee Home Education Association, WTHEA, the chapter of THEA between Memphis and Nashville, has for over a decade prepared 180 dozen cookies and sweet treats in our signature red, white and blue gift bags with the sticker “A Treat from Home” for you and your family to take to the staff of your lawmakers. Each bag will also have the four-color Rally Day program to be given to your lawmakers to read about our Rally and to see the pictures and bullet point bios of the outstanding students from their part of the state. We need you to take these with you to the offices of your legislators.

  Plan to take these when you visit them for your appointments. Pick them up at the COOKIE tables on the first floor level of the Legislative Plaza (the lowest level within their office complex) before you go to your appointments.

  Even if you do not make an appointment, with your legislators, you can deliver cookies — it’s fun — the staff watches for our cookie gift bags on Rally Day! Dads and moms, bring your children, visit your legislators, represent Tennessee home educators and count this a great civics lesson for your children.

• Set up on display tables

  Like almost all groups which lobby our state lawmakers, we reserve the hallway space along the walls in the Legislative Plaza (the lowest level within their office complex) for you to bring your student’s science projects, art work, sports and mock trial trophies, 4-H exhibits, support group tri-folds. All of these give a visual presentation to our lawmakers of the vibrancy and accomplishments and socialization of home educators — they bring the good report of home education. Contact Suzanne Myhre if you wish to have space on a display table at: .

• Legislator luncheon

  THEA serves all our legislators and their staff a luncheon on Rally Day. About 500 people go through our reception line, manned by homeschool teens serving them a Tennessee lunch of bar-b-que, baked beans, potato salad, grasshopper bars (made by Rutherford County home school moms and daughters) and tea.

  While our legislators and their staffers go through the reception line, our student musicians entertain them with beautiful music. We have featured harp music, flutes, guitar, and string players in large groups, solos, trios and quartets. All of these home educators are “bringing the good report of home education” as we join together to present our unique educational endeavors to our legislators.

Capitol Hill Area Map

Download and print this map of the Capitol Area.

    Open Monday and Wednesday
    9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
    Tuesday and Thursday
    9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    Friday
    9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
    Saturday
    9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

    Fee: $15 per year

BOOKS

• Book Limit: 5 books per person
• Checkout Period: 3 weeks
• Renewal: Books may be renewed once, if another patron is not waiting for the title. Renewals may be made by phone or in person.
• Reserving Books: A book may be reserved or placed on hold for a patron. If the book is checked out or on order, the patron may request that the book be held for him or her. We will notify the patron by phone when the title is ready, and the book will be held for one week, unless additional time is requested before it is returned to the general collection.
• Overdue Fines: A grace period of one week is allowed, and then a fine of 10 cents per day will be charged for late books with a maximum fine of $5 per book. Fines on overdue “reserve” items are given below.
• Lost/Damaged Books: A replacement fee will be charged for lost or damaged books.
• Reserve Items: Professors often place books on “reserve” for students’ use. These books are kept behind the circulation desk. They may be used in the library or checked out during the last hour the library is open and returned the first hour the library is open. Fines will be 50 cents per hour for overdue reserves.

VIDEOTAPES &DVDs

• Checkout Period: 1 week
• Limited Checkout: 3 videos at one time
• Renewal: Videos may be renewed one time, unless another patron has placed a hold on the item.
• Reserving Videos: If the video is checked out, the patron may place it on hold or reserve so that when the item is returned, it will be held for that person. We will place the video behind the circulation desk, notify the patron who has reserved it, and hold it for one week before returning it to the shelf.
• Overdue Fines: We give you a grace period of two days, then a fine of $1 per day will be charged for an overdue video with a maximum fine of $10 per video.
• Lost/Damaged Videos: A replacement fee will be charged for lost or damaged videos.

AUDIOTAPES

• Checkout Period: 3 weeks
• Renewal: The audiotapes may be renewed.
• Reserving Audiotapes: If audiotapes are checked out, then the patron can request that the tapes be placed on hold for them when they are returned. Once the tapes are returned, the patron will be notified and the tapes held for one week before they are returned to the shelf.
• Overdue Fines: 10 cents per day with a maximum of $5 per tape
• Lost/Damaged Audios: A replacement fee will be charged for lost or damaged tapes.

CBI Patrons

To check out materials, please fill out an information card at the circulation desk. The annual fee for library usage is $15.

When fines reach $15, or when the patron owes for lost or damaged materials, the patron will not be allowed to check out materials until the debt is paid.

A copy machine is available, and printers are networked to the computers. Copies and printouts are 5 cents per copy for non-RGU library patrons.

    Contact:
    Ron Bunger and Gladys Edwards
    (423)648-2408
    rbunger@psy.edu

BOOK CATALOG

• http://library.psy.edu
• Once on the site, choose “• PSI Chattanooga”