The C H A P   E-Newsletter April 2, 2002

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Contents:
-Accountable to Whom? Parents or Government?
-Update on a new homeschool law
-Update on the CHAP Convention

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Welcome to another issue of the CHAP E-Newsletter. If you miss any of the CHAP
E-Newsletters or want to refer to them at a later date, they will be listed on
the CHAP web page at http://www.chapboard.org.

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Accountable to Whom? Parents or Government?

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." Neither the
Bible nor the U.S. Constitution mention a role for government in education.

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.It is still the method
used today by the world¼s elite.

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. 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 (Geography and Spelling
Bee) over the last 5 years have come from states with the least-restrictive
home education laws.

In all states there are probably students that are falling "through the

cracks."  Similarly, there are more 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.

So how are Pennsylvania¼s home schooled students doing? Is there a study
related to homeschool abuse? No, but there is useful data from a source that
you might not expect us to quote. Each year the Pennsylvania Department of
Education (PDE) releases data about homeschooling for the previous year. This
is collected from the 501 school districts in Pennsylvania. The PDE has a
remarkable return rate of 100% from all the school districts in the state. The
data from the most recent year available, shows that there were 21,459
homeschooled students in Pennsylvania. Of these 21,459 students, the school
districts identified 344 whom the school administrators felt were receiving an
inappropriate education. The homeschool evaluators identified 95 students that
were receiving an "inappropriate education."  It should be noted that public
school superintendents are not considered to be strong supporters of home
schooling. It could be stated that they would be what lawyers would call a
„hostile witness.¾ According to the evaluators about .4% of homeschooled
children are failing. Even the public school administrators would estimate only
about 1.6% are considered to be failing. These numbers are remarkable. Few

human endeavors succeed at the 99.6% level. This is a great tribute to
homeschoolers. Dewitt Black, the Home School Legal Defense Association¼s
attorney for Pennsylvania notes that no member family in Pennsylvania has ever
been forced to stop homeschooling because of inadequate education. This is more
evidence that homeschoolers are doing a great job.

In the two large scale studies of homeschooling that have been done, the
question of outside accountability has been addressed. No difference in
outcomes can be found in states with high and low reporting requirements. This
fact doesn't mean that there are no differences in homeschoolers, just that
state regulation cannot be shown to influence them. After all, parents have a
more vested interest in seeing their child succeed than the government. Thus,
even though it is tempting to regulate homeschoolers it has not been shown to
make any difference. 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."



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Update on a new homeschool law
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Over three years ago, CHAP started working toward a new homeschool law in
Pennsylvania. For the past two years we have been working with other
organizations attempting to bring this to a reality. Many meetings, phone
calls, conference calls, letter writing, and lobbying hours have gone into this
effort. We feel that the time is getting very near for action in the
legislative realm. Watch your email box and the CHAP web page
(http://www.chapboard.org) under „Legislative Updates¾ in the near future for
details and ways that you can be an instrumental part in returning the rights
and responsibility for the education of children back to their parents.
Continue to pray for  God¼s hand in this endeavor.


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Update on the CHAP Convention
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Our 16th Annual CHAP Homeschool Convention on May 10 & 11, 2002 is almost here.
The Convention takes place at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. You can
still register at a reduced amount if your registration is postmarked by
4/6/02. The 2001 Convention had a total attendance of over 8,000 and there were
more than 150 vendor organizations offering every imaginable homeschool
product. The CHAP Convention is a time of enrichment, fellowship and fun. There
are nine workshops in various size rooms (ranging from 200 to 1200 capacity)
taking place at the same time through out the two day convention. If you have
not registered for the Convention yet, you can print a registration form and
brochure on the CHAP web page at http://www.chapboard.org or call (717)
665-6707 and request a printed brochure to be mailed to you. Click on the „2002
Convention¾ flasher. Under „Convention Updates,¾ there are pages with the
revised workshop schedule; speaker biographies; topic summaries; and a listing
of vendors who have registered for the convention. Don't forget: You can still
register at a reduced amount if your registration is postmarked by 4/6/02. Hope
to see you there!