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The C H A P   E-Newsletter

Greetings! The CHAP Board is breathing a collective sigh of relief. The 15th 

annual CHAP Homeschooling Convention is behind us. This annual gathering is 
the largest collection of home educating families in the United States, that 
we are aware of and probably the world for that matter.) God is good.

This year a homeschooling mom, who has graduated all her children, Diana 
Martin and her homeschooled daughter Tiana, took over the preregistration 
chores for us. They did a superb job. They also attended the convention and 
helped to keep the walk-in registration running smoothly. Those of you who 
attended no doubt noticed that the name tags were mailed earlier this year 
than ever before.

We have long felt that the support group leaders are an important element in 
the success of homeschooling in Pennsylvania. We have tried to support them 
with leaders¼ conferences over the years. This year the board decided to 
honor them at our convention with a ribbon and refreshments at the 
conference. We are delighted that we were able to honor over one hundred 
support group leaders in this way. We are hoping to have more local leader¼s 
meetings over the coming months.

By renting another room at the State Farm Show Building we were able to 
increase the space allocated to vendors. Even though we had the most vendors 
ever (175), the vendor area seemed much more spacious than previously. The 
Gideons were there for the first time. Veritas, classical Christian 
education, greatly expanded its presence this year. Sam Blumenthal was sel
ling his phonics program, AlphaPhonics. Christian camps, colleges and 
homeschool diploma programs were also represented. Both the attendees and the 
vendors seemed well pleased with the new layout and the convention in general.

Many people thanked us for our hard work in putting the convention together, 
but the real stars of the show are the volunteers. This year 374 volunteers 
contributed over 1200 hours of labor to make the convention happen. It could 
not be done without their help. Thanks again to all of you who volunteered.


Richard, „Little Bear¾ Wheeler gave his historical talks to packed rooms 
with people sitting on the floor. University of California Law Professor, 
Phillip Johnson, who could rightfully claim the title of the father of the 
intelligent design movement, was well received. Norm Wakefield of Elijah 
ministries brought several uplifting talks. Brian Ray reviewed what 
homeschool research shows and encouraged us to seek God¼s best. Dee Black 
gave us a legal update and comparison to other states.

A panel discussion about the homeschool law in Pennsylvania was a new 
feature. The moderator was Doug Rothgaber, CHAP board member and publisher of 
the CHAP E-newsletter. Panelists included: Pennsylvania Representative Sam 
Rohrer; Representative Tom Armstrong; Dewitt Black, Esq., Senior Council 
for Homeschool Legal Defense Association; Dr. Brian Ray, National Home 
Education Research Association; Dr. Bruce Eagleson, CHAP Board, and Pastor 
Clyde Gwin, CHAP Board. 

Mr. Black offered his opinion that Pennsylvania had the second worst law in 
the nation, second only to New York. Dr. Eagleson commented, „New York is 
trying to change theirs, so maybe we can take first place.¾ Mr. Black also 
stated that it was time to improve our law. He noted that other states had 
improved their own law and no state had gotten a worse law. Both the 
legislators expressed the opinion that the law could not be changed unless 
there was a high level of agreement about the change in the homeschooling 
community. Dr. Ray continued to challenge us to hold out for a high standard 
and not to settle for what appeared to be politically viable. He reminded us 
that God has given us the responsibility to teach our children. Pastor Gwin 
made the point that the law should encourage creativity, maintain parental 
authority. and should avoid punishing the innocent. 

One regrettable situation at the convention was a problem with the rooms 
called Northeast Up and Northeast Down. This began with the rooms we used to 
call M1 and M2 which were in the main exhibit hall. Every year we got 
complaints about noise interference. This year we attempted to fix the 
problem by moving into the rooms called Northeast Up and Northeast Down. They 
had plenty of room and looked as if they would solve the sound problem that 
the M rooms had. The day of setup we were told by the farm show personnel 
that Northeast Up would be unbearably hot. They recommended that we not use 
it. Because of this we had to make a last minute decision to put both of 
these areas in the Northeast Down. Thus we ended up with audio interference 
worse than M1 and M2 had. We appreciate the patience that both our attendees 
and speakers showed. We are going to try to fix this next year.

There were many examples of Godly behavior during the two days of the 
convention. The volunteers were faithful to serve. Many credit cards, purses 
and checkbooks were turned into the lost and found area. A remarkable example 
was a signed blank check that was turned in. Farm Show employees, food 
service workers and security people continue to comment on how well behaved 
the children are. 

Perhaps the greatest compliment paid was by Professor Phillip Johnson. He 
said, „My new hero is the homeschooling mom.¾ We agree Professor Johnson.

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