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The C H A P   E-Newsletter

Welcome to issue three of the CHAP E-Newsletter. Thank you for your kind
response to this publication. If you have friends and acquaintances who
would enjoy receiving it please forward a copy to them. They may
subscribe if they are interested. If you want to see any back issues
they will be listed on the CHAP web page at www.chaponline.com.


In these first few issues the topics will center on the debate about if
and how the current Pennsylvania Homeschool law should be changed to
give home educators more freedom. The model for these papers is the
Federalist Papers published by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander
Hamilton. The Federalist Papers were written to support the adoption of
the new Federal Constitution. In the federalist papers the authors used
pseudonyms, this custom is continued in the Freedom Papers. You might
enjoy trying to guess who the authors are.


Freedom Paper Number 4

- By alpha Who is responsible for raising the children of our country?
Is it the government? Perhaps, it is the social workers? Is it the
community?  Could it be the Department of Education?


If you listen to the current authorities, one would think that the
government knows what is best for our children. If you go to scripture,
it tells us that the parent is responsible and not only responsible, but
the parent also knows what is best for each one of their children! God
has given to His people commands that are to be passed along to their
children so they "may fear the Lord" and keep His commandments that
their "days may be prolonged."

Let¼s take a moment and look back through history and see how those who
went before us educated their children. As the Israelites trekked from
Egypt, the teaching of the children was not an activity isolated to a
particular location or time of day. The teaching was to be, as
Deuteronomy 6: 1-7 tells us, while they were doing all their everyday
"normal" things. As we look through history, time and time again, we see
that the one-on-one tutorial approach is considered to be the finest
method ever devised for instruction. 
What about accountability? Don¼t we need accountability? Won¼t
homeschoolers stop educating their children if they don¼t have to teach
certain subjects, have an end of year evaluation, a portfolio, and do
achievement testing? The Israelites thought they needed accountability.
In I Samuel 8 they cried for a king. They wanted to be like the rest of
the nations that surrounded them. Do we want to be like those in public
school and that is why we clamor for access to courses and
extracurricular activities? God finally gave the Israelites a king and
what happened? They were in bondage! Are we in a similar bondage when we
allow our government to dictate what our children must learn? Is it what
God wants them to learn? Today¼s research shows that the homeschool
students in the states with the less strict homeschool laws are
achieving the same educational success as the states, which have all the
strict requirements. In fact, all those "Bee" winners came from states
with less-restrictive laws.

In all states there are probably students that are falling "through the
cracks."  Similarly, there are public school students who slip through
the cracks. The strictness of the law does not stop that. Just drive the
speed limit on an Interstate highway, or any public road for that
matter. Does the speed limit law keep people from going above the limit?
We frequent Interstate-81 and set our cruise control. We hardly ever
have to leave the right lane as the rest of the world goes whizzing past
us at 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. We don¼t choose to do what is
right because of a law, we choose to do what is right because of our
personal moral fiber dictates it. Educating our children is no
different. Proverbs 29:26 says "Many seek the ruler¼s favor; but every
man¼s judgment cometh from the Lord."


Freedom Paper 5 -By beta

A question that keeps coming up in regard to a new law is "Can we
accomplish this?" This is a relevant question. The simple answer is that
no one but God can accurately predict the future. A question that we can
better come to grips with is what are the factors that will influence
our success?

In his book, Guide to State Legislative Lobbying, Robert L. Guyer lists
nine factors that should be considered in assessing a groups internal
resources. These need to be carefully considered before a campaign to
change a law or write a new law is begun. This paper will look at these
points one by one.

1. Internal Consensus It is an accepted axiom that the greater the unity
in the group the greater the chance for success. Without unity success
will be difficult. This is probably the most difficult of the issues for
homeschoolers. Because homeschoolers tend to be independent and
individualistic, we tend to have different visions about what an ideal
law would be. These visions range from our current law to no law at all.

Dick and Dorothy Carmen, state leaders in Oregon, stated that getting
agreement among the homeschoolers was the most important and most
difficult step in their attempt to get a homeschooling new law. They
noted that they had more opposition from other homeschoolers than from

the teachers¼ and educators¼ unions!

2. Member Motivation Homeschoolers tend to rate high in the area of
motivation. While not all homeschoolers will work to change the law,
many will. This is the strength of the movement. If the Pennsylvania law
is changed at all it will be due to the motivation of individual
homeschoolers to make life better for themselves and their successors.
When CHAP did a survey of their mailing list there was a fifty per cent

response rate.  That is staggeringly good for such a survey.


3. Relationships The relationships we have with others, legislators,
family, friends, other public interest groups, schoolteachers and
administrators will be a major force in our ability to change the law. 
In some of these areas we have real strength. We are weak in our
relationships with lawmakers and other lobbying groups. Home educators
need to be improving in these areas.

4. Places Where Members Live and Work The greater the geographic
distributions of those working for change the more likely you are to be
able to change public policy.  Because the legislature represents the
whole state the wider the geographic diversity the more political power
the group will have. On this item Homeschoolers score well. We are
geographically diverse.

5. Shared Characteristics with Legislators. Knowing working and sharing
a common background with the representatives and senators makes for
potent lobbyists. A person who has known the public servant all of his
life has a potent influence on him. In this area home educators will
likely have a great deal in common with their elected servants.

To Be Continuedä The remaining four points will be addressed next issue
as well as our scorecard and some suggestions about what directions to
take.



What Should You Do? The following are ways that every homeschooler can
help to get a less restrictive homeschool law:

1) PRAY! This should be #1 on all of our lists as we seek our Lord's
guidance and His will in this matter.

2) Get to know your state senator and representative NOW. Be visible
with their staff. Let them know you are a homeschooler and that you
value your personal freedoms and less government control in your life.
Always be congenial even when disagreeing with their position. Ask them
how you can pray for them or their family. One family that we know of
developed such a rapport with their representative over several years of
time that the representative now has a daughter homeschooling his
grandchildren.

3) Plan on attending the first CHAP HELP Day on Tuesday, November 14,
2000 in Harrisburg. The theme will be Home Education Works for
Pennsylvania. CHAP HELP (Home Educator's Lobby Program) will be a super
day for homeschooling families as they learn how to lobby, visit their
legislators, and have the afternoon free to have a field trip in the
state capital city. More details will be in the CHAP Newsletter and in a
mailing that will go out later.

4) Buy and read Howard Richman¼s book the Story of a Bill  and learn
about the previous efforts to change the law. It will give you a glimpse
of how difficult it is to change the law. This book is available from
Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (Howard and Susan¼s business), R.D. 2, Box
117, Kittaning, PA 16201.




Staff Editor		Bruce K. Eagleson Publisher	Doug Rothgaber


Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania PO Box 115 Mount Joy,
PA 17552-0115 717-661-2428 www.chapboard.org

Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania PO Box 115 Mount Joy,
PA 17552-0115 717-661-2428 www.chapboard.org
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