n Ideas from Rebekah for “back to school” fun, 3n Jeannette tries to nail basics, 4n Rochelle: Education before academics, 6n Outrageous challenges? 8

Inside Esprit

ESPRITVolume XXXI • Number 1 • September 2018Chattanooga Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association

Esprit bursting forth into print

Page 2 • September 2018 • Esprit

Friday, Sept. 28Games

Door prizesFamilies should bring

Picnic if they want to get there early and eat dinner at the pavillion

Lawn/camp chairsBlankets

Family night

Ice Cream Social

Camp Jordan Arena Pavilion6 p.m.

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 3

By Rebekah Hargraves

As exciting as the beginning of a new school year can be, sometimes this time of year can also be dreaded a bit by mama and child alike. This isn't how it has to be, however. With that in mind, here are 10 ideas for how to make back-to-school a really fun time for both you as the teacher as well as your children as the students.

Throw a partyBack-to-school doesn't have to be a

stressed out, dreaded season for your family. It can instead be something to

celebrate! It's an exciting new beginning! To commemorate this, consider throwing a back-to-school party and inviting all your children's friends.

If this feels like too much work, look into what parties the homeschool co-ops in your town might be hosting or partner with other homeschool moms to throw the big bash together, so that not all the planning, decorating, etc. is on you.Take a photo

Take "First Day of School" photos of each of your children as well as all of them in a group shot.

These will become treasured momentos and something fun to look at as you compare previous years' photos to this year's and see how much everyone has grown and changed!Reminisce

Talk about what went right during the last school year. What was the most fun field trip you went on? What was the most interesting thing you learned? What was the most fun activity you experienced?

Have a time where you and each of your children can share together what you all enjoyed the most from the past school year and how it affected you.Dream — make a bucket list

Do the same thing as when you

reminisced together, only this time talk about things you want to do in the year ahead.

Where do you want to go? What kind of field trip do you want to take? Who do you want to learn about in history? What do you especially want to study? Dream big and make a bucket list of all those fun ideas for your school year!Make cute cupcakes

Pinterest is replete with cute cupcake recipes and ideas to help you celebrate going back to school. Cupcakes that look like apples, notebook paper with math problems, and more, the sky is the limit.

Plan fun outfit-themed days for the first month of school (one a week)

This can be a super fun idea for all involved.

Have the stereotypical "homeschoolers in pajamas" day, dress up as your favorite character in history, have "backwards day" where everyone wears their clothes inside out, have a silly day where each child competes to see who can come up with the most mismatched, silly outfit, etc. This is sure to be a barrel of laughs.Study favorite person in history

What historical figure do you each find to be the most interesting? Look up a series of books or movies about each one and spend the first month of school learning all you can about these characters.

Have a party at the end of the month where each child (and mama, if you so choose!) dresses up as their favorite person in history.

For bonus points and an extra dose of

fun, look up recipes of the kind of food those people would have eaten in the time and place in which they lived and make those for your party.

Have a points system for each new multiplication table, fact, timeline, etc. (you fill in the blank!) your child remembered over the summer and is able to recite to you at the beginning of this school year. Have them cash in those points for prizes at the end of the first month of school.

This can be a great way to encourage a love of learning in your kids and a sense of the importance of studying well and with intentionality. The prizes your kids are able to cash in their points for can be anything from an inexpensive dollar store treat to the gift of an experience at a local museum, zoo, or aquarium.Play a game.

There are so many education games out there, be it on Pinterest or in an actual store. Take advantage of these and enjoy some educational family fun!Have a costume party and dress up as someone from history

Take the idea to dress up as your favorite historical character a step further and host an actual costume party where everyone who comes dresses up as their own favorite person in history. Spread the fun around!

Let this list of fun ideas serve as a beginning point for you and your family to enjoy the school year ahead and really get it off to an awesome and fun start! You got this, mama! Enjoy it.

Talk about things for the year ahead — maybe taking part in a theater troupe.

10 ideas for back-to-lessons fun

Rebekah Hargraves is a wife, mama to two littles, home business owner, blogger, and podcaster whose passions include reading, writing, spending time with her family, extending hospitality, encouraging others, and enjoying a good hot cup of tea or coffee. You can find more of her writings at www.hargraveshomeandhearth.com

Pick a person in history to study, or create a costume or take photos

Page 4 • September 2018 • Esprit

Revisiting the basicsI have been reading some of my old

columns in this publication. I wrote my first one in September 2004, when my youngest was 2. He is now 15!

I am printing one of September 2005 in its entirety, adding an update as I have been able to visit my college roommate, Anne (the subject of the 2005 editorial), this past summer.

Here is the column I wrote 13 years ago:

I n August our family took a trip to the northeast to see the sights and visit friends I had not seen in 10 or 15 years. God is so faithful to use

others to sharpen us. Each dear friend I visited had something different to encourage me with. That is how the body of Christ works.

I was almost fearful, however, of visiting my college roommate, living in Virginia. I knew what she would say to me. At Auburn University she was a sort of legend in the Christian community.

She was known as “that girl who knew Scripture.” While we shared an apartment she challenged me to meditate in and memorize large portions of Scripture, and I did.

Every day I witnessed her getting up very early, wrapping herself in a blanket and poring over God’s word for an hour.

Today my former roommate is a wife, a mom, a business owner and has enjoyed great success in all.

Her four children ages 11 to 19 are all faithfully following Christ with a love for His word and a zeal for evangelism. Her business has grown from a $100 start-up out of her home to a $2 million dollar retailer.

We chatted late into the night. She had been praying for me all these years and wanted to hear every detail of my life, all my frustrations, all my failures. Then the question I dreaded, “Jeannette, have you been memorizing and meditating in God’s Word?”

“Well,” I hedged, “I have been reading sections and writing down applications occasionally; you know how busy I am.”

She was merciless. “Jeannette, you do so many things right but

you are neglecting the one thing that God says will give you success.”

Her life spoke volumes to me. Because of her business, she was not always there with her children. Her children were educated in private Christian and public schools. But she was there for them, praying fervently, faithfully, daily. She was there for them teaching them how to meditate in and memorize large portions of God’s word. She was there for them as an

example of a wife who loved and submitted to and lavishly praised their dad, a mom who encouraged them with the truths of God’s word which she had so faithfully and consistently laid up in her heart all the years.

So I want to begin the school year remembering the basics.

We may have a great curriculum. We may have enriching activities for our children. But let us not neglect what God says will ensure success.

According to my concordance, the only verse which mentions success explicitly is Joshua 1:8. “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” This is no “health and wealth gospel,” but a true provision from a God who loves His people and wants to nourish us.

Let us drink deeply, daily from God’s Word. Let us ponder it, turn it over in our minds, commit it to our memory and store it in our hearts.

Let us use this Word implanted to encourage our children, to correct them, to train them up, to educate them. Let us not neglect the basics.

May you have a blessed and successful year.

A s I read my editorial of Sept. 2005, I realized that I was again preaching to myself today. It is so easy to fill one’s

life with good things. I am part of several small groups including a book study, a Bible study and a homeschool support group. I moderate several more support groups online. This year I have cut way back on work outside the home

Please turn to Page 5

CSTHEAArea coordinator/president

Steve DugginsSecretary

Jeannette TulisTreasurer

David Boydtreasurer@csthea.org

Curriculum fair exhibitor coordinator, athletic director

Jan BontekoeMember

James HindmanMembership coordinator

Erin Stroud membership@csthea.org

Meetings are 2nd Monday each month at Oakwood Baptist Church in Chattanooga at 7 p.m. We wel-

come visitors and active reps.

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Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee 37379The views expressed by the advertisers,

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bility to check them out.

and am just teaching kindergarten priv ately two days a week for several families at the Charlotte Mason tutorial where I worked last year. But I still struggle with making time for Bible reading and prayer. When I was a new Christian in high school and college, I was convinced that I would eventually get to the place where it would no longer be a struggle to spend time in God’s Word and prayer.

I thought I would reach a point where each day I would spring out of bed in the morning eager to drink in God’s Word. I do not know about you, but for me, that has NOT happened. And even though I have had seasons in my life where I was more consistent with Bible reading, study and prayer, it seems to always be a struggle, never easy.

Should I be surprised? We are much less effectual as believers when we do not spend time in the Word and prayer, so, of course, our circumstances, our old nature and our Enemy will conspire to keep us from those needful things.

In June I led at workshop at a conference which is usually in North Carolina or Kentucky. But this year, it was in Roanoke, Va., the home of Anne, my old college roommate. As I was planning my trip I decided to look her up. It took a bit of doing to contact her. But I finally reached her through her daughter on Facebook. Yes, she wanted to see me, yes she wanted me to spend a night at her house if possible so we could really catch up. Again I knew she was

going to fix me with those piercing eyes and ask me all the hard questions.

Once again, I would have to admit my failings. But this time she asked me different questions, mostly about my children and my marriage. She told me all about her latest work, an inner-city ministry with her husband in Roanoke.

This ministry had just started the last time I visited her.

She and her husband and her children were inviting inner city children into their home on a regular basis for Bible study

and were taking these children to Christian camps each summer for a week.

She was still spending lots of time meditating and memorizing God’s Word. All four of her children were walking with the Lord although one of them may have married unwisely. I saw the way she honored her husband even though she confessed to me that they had rocky times in the early years of their marriage. God was blessing them financially. Their business was now worth about $4 million and they were giving so much of it away to their inner-city mission work. She told me story after story of how God had moved in amazing ways to reach hard hearts for him. She showed me a little blog she’d started and how it was reaching all around the world. She gave me

a copy of her devotional,on which she is still working.

In short, I saw that Anne was being faithful to all God called her to. That she was being used by Him in amazing ways. That He was blessing her and her life was a blessing.

So let me encourage you to remember the basics. Do not neglect your own walk with the Lord in the busyness of educating your children. Keep first things first. Yes, it is a struggle. Yes, it is easier to sleep in, to reach for other reading material, to set yourself up for failure by not getting enough sleep so you can not wake up early enough to include morning devotions. But it is the means of grace, the way to get wisdom, the only way to be truly successful.

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 5

Revisiting the basicsContinued from Page 4

Calendarn Sept. 7 — back to school dance, Vineyardn Sept. 28 — Fam-ily back-to-school social Camp Jordann Jan. 11 — Winter dance (tentative)n Jan. 21 — Graduation meetingn April 11,12,13 — Home-school Players perfor-mancen April 26 — Prom at Cre-ative Discovery Museumn May 17 — Graduation Banquet at Abba’s Housen May 18 — Graduation Abba’s Housen May 24 — Lake Winnien June 1 — Used book sale at Camp Jordann July 19 and 20 — Home Education Expo at Camp Jordan

I saw that Anne was being faithful to all to which God had called her.

Page 6 • September 2018 • Esprit

Barter Life has loveliness to sell,All beautiful and splendid things,Blue waves whitened on a cliff,Soaring fire that sways and sings,And children’s faces looking up,Holding wonder like a cup.

— Sara Teasdale

By Rochelle Marshall

Ah, the wonder of childhood. How can we steward these early days of exploration between infancy and formal school education (ages 2-5)? Here is an outline of

the primary principles and practices that form our family’s early childhood education.

First, a couple definitions:Who is the child? The child is a person,

created in the image of God, fully formed and endowed with unique gifts and abilities, yet immature, in need of guidance and training toward love and good deeds (virtue). Who is the parent teacher? Also a person, imperfect, yet called to walk along with their child, teaching what they know and humbling learning what they do not.

Where does most of our educational philosophy come from? We follow the classical tradition as fleshed out through

the principles and practices of Charlotte Mason, a 20th century British educator. Here is a link to her 20 principles, paraphrased by L.N. Laurio. We are also influenced by the idea in Deuteronomy 11:17 regarding teaching in every place and time in life.

In our home, the priorities we have in the early years are a foundation of good habits, much time spent in exploring nature, playing, reading aloud, fostering creativity, and building our family relationships.

Habits

We want our children to grow into people who manage their time, take care of their bodies, home, and possessions, and treat others well. Establishing routines and orderly homes will also help us have “smooth and easy days” as we invest large

Education before academicsWatch 4-year-old at his chores, and get all children outside

A toddler in the creek, just where she belongs. Right photo, another child next to piles of books. (Photos Rochelle Marshall)

Rochelle Marshall, homeschool graduate, Covenant College alumna, and former Ambleside School teacher, home educates her five children, ages 10 years to 1, on Lookout Mountain.

https://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/20Principles.html

[Editor's note: In our last Esprit, a large part of Rochelle’s essay was omitted or garbled. Here is the full text.]

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 7

amounts of our time in nourishing our children.

This is also the age to establish household expectations for how people and objects are cared for, who is responsible for each task, and how we treat one another. These are some books on manners we’ve enjoyed (they are very funny!): Manners Can Be Fun by Munro Leaf, The Goops and How to Be Them, and Richard Scarry’s Book of Please and Thank You.

Have your child work with you. Cook and clean together; teach them to care for their own bodies, clothes, rooms, dishes, etc. Some favorite chores for this age – emptying small trash cans, bringing laundry from closets to the laundry room, unloading the silverware & dishes stored low down, setting and clearing the dinning table, making lunch, wiping stairs, chairs, tables, etc., sweeping, using a duster, etc. It’s amazing what a well trained 4-year-old can manage!

If they have always been with/close to you during chores they (usually) have a very good attitude. Bad attitudes I’ve seen have been with children who are new to cleaning and chores or children who are older and now have to help and feel “put upon.” Often the bad attitude actually hides some embarrassment that the child doesn’t know how to do the job; they don’t realize that, but teaching them in a cheerful way and then consistently keeping them accountable to their tasks will help with attitude.

Also, if they are trained and resist, I will sometimes inflict a consequence for arguing. Today I said to an older child “every time you say ‘but Mom’ regarding this job I’ll add another job. I’m envisioning very clean bathrooms.” Worked like a charm.

Nature

We try to spend several hours outside everyday. This is time spent exploring nature, in free play, and in active play. Please let your children spend great quantities of

time outside. “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without - Charlotte Mason

I have many fond memories of wandering with my thoughts as a child, or watching my mother garden, or making “salads” with dried grass and twigs, or going for little red wagon rides. Based on the house in my mind these things all happened between the ages of 2-5. It was a lovely time. The colors are calming (green is the most calming color), the environment is natural, and the air is fresh. Especially for children who struggle with any hyperactivity or anxiety, please get them outside several hours a day. This is more important than library story time (precious as it is to see all those cute little kids lined up listening to a story), more important than an alphabet workbook, more important than time with toys.

Foster curiosity. Help them notice. Embrace questions you don’t have the answer to. Explore together. Discuss. Look for answers together, or research and maybe tell them later what you read about.

Learn about our world. My husband has a wealth of knowledge about the natural world, especially animals in North America that I know very little about.

Instead of focusing on zoo animals,

learn about the animals that live in our neighborhood.

Put up a bird feeder. Pay attention to any squirrels,

chipmunks, ants, snails, bugs…even the most sterile subdivision or city block will have little bits of nature you can notice and keep track of.

We’ve seen lovely birds in grocery store parking lots and wildflowers in ditches; the important part is noticing and caring. Buy a good basic field guide and look things up. Our family favorite is Reader’s Digest North American Wildlife Guide – there are several editions and we have the oldest one; you can find copies online for $4-5.

Free play

Inside or out, we allow for lots of free play with siblings, friends, or solo. Free play is so essential to early childhood. To make this enjoyable and accessible, a simple play area with open-ended toys is helpful; in the middle of our home we have a little bookshelf with a few sturdy box/baskets for our favorite flexible toys – blocks, trains,

“Even the most sterile subdivision or city block will have little bits of nature you can notice and keep track of. We’ve seen lovely birds in grocery store park-ing lots and wildflowers in ditches; the important part is noticing and caring.”

Please turn to Page 8

Page 8 • September 2018 • Esprit

dolls, and small animals. In low drawers we have puzzles

stored by level of difficulty. There are also accessible coloring supplies and picture books. Very simple, yet wonderful for free play.

We also have a bin of dress up clothes, a basket of blankets, and loads of pillows. These are some of our children’s favorite things.

Read Aloud

We are a reading family. We read aloud at meals, in the car, before naps and bed, during our big kids’ school time.

And yet, two words of caution: ▶ For children under 6, too much reading

to can be a negative. Be careful that reading to your young children does not take up too much of their time that should be spent out in nature or doing housework or spent in free play.

Their developing brains and body need movement and to practice new skills. They

need to watch and observe without always being read to/at.

▶ Second, make sure the books you read are of high quality. Some of what passes for children’s literature these days is very disappointing in content, quality of illustrations, and language.

Please be selective. Choose stories told

with rich language, illustrated with beautiful art. St. George and the Dragon, illustrated by Hyman is a good example.

A well told children’s story will be enjoyed by adults as well; if you cringe when your child requests a particular story again and again, consider if you might need to cull that one from your collection. Be ruthless. Just as children enjoy the same favorite T-shirt and applesauce on repeat, children tend to want their favorite books read continuously, so encourage favorites that you are willing to memorize.

I have every line of our favorite baby book (Everywhere Babies) memorized, as well as many Margaret Wise Brown, Beatrix Potter, and Sandra Boynton books. Choose books you are willing to commit to memory.

Favorite books in these years are Bible stories, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and then some classics like Caps for Sale and Make Way for Ducklings. I do reference the Memoria Press, Ambleside Online, Sonlight, and Five in a Row reading lists when I’m planning library visits or purchases.

We have been slowly building our family library via a book or two per child every Christmas and birthday. After a decade we

Before all, educationContinued from Page 7 Resources

Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles with paraphrase by L.N. Laurio

Piney Woods Homeschool blog series of preschool articles by Kathy Livingston

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

For the Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins

By Tammy Drennan

If you want to see something really sad, look at a kid with an under-challenged brain. Brains are meant to be worked – really hard, till they strain and sweat and ache.

I homeschooled my own sons many a year ago and now I tutor. I have an 11-year-old student who is really smart. When I ask him a question and get “I dunno,” I know what it’s time for – it’s time to shock his brain. “I’m sorry, did I say what are the first five multiples of 11? I meant what are the first five multiples of 18? In your head. Did I say how do you spell Jupiter? I meant how do you spell all the planets, in alphabetical order, as fast as you can?”

D on’t think I’m exaggerating. I’m not. And don’t think your children aren’t up to some

serious challenges. They are. I’ve thrown the

most outrageous challenges at students and have seen them sit up straight and their eyes light up. You may need to give them some time to work things out and you may need to compromise a little (“OK, you can jot down the answers as you work them out in your head), but give them the chance to rise.

Your goal is to light your children’s brains on fire, not just get through the lessons. Here are some more ideas.

▶ Give students a list of challenging words and two minutes to study them then spell them (on paper or out loud).

▶ Give students two or three minutes to memorize a paragraph or a page in a book then recite it.

Note: If they don’t get it right at first, give them another minute or two. Keep doing it until they’ve succeeded.

▶ Give students complex math problems. Example: Number of eyes in our family X number of inches in a foot – number of trunks on a dozen elephants + number of pencils in a gross (possible research needed) X the number stars on the flag – the number of days in a leap year.

You get the idea. The exercise of making these problems

up will be good for your brain, too.▶Call out the names of things – chair,

glass, toaster, lamp, cat, dog, horse – and ask your student to draw a quick picture of them – something simple, just so you can tell what it is. Insist it be kept simple. This forces the brain to think in a communicative rather than an artsy way. If your student says “I can’t draw,” have them call out words and you draw, then switch roles. (Many adults and some kids get quite intimidated about having to draw things.)

▶ Have your student write you a letter or some sentences all in pictures.

▶ Get out a map or globe and start asking questions like: What country lies due south of the U.S., name all the states that border Tennessee, name four African countries south of the equator, name three island countries, name four countries in the western hemisphere.

You get the idea. Make your kids’ education pop!

It will do everyone a world of good.

Light their brains on fire

Tammy Drennan is a veteran homeschool mom with grown children who writes at educationconversation.wordpress.com

Please turn to Page 9

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 9

have what I feel like is a happy collection; do not loose heart mama with a tiny book budget!

Regarding chapter books at this age: Use your best judgment! I do not intentionally sit down and read children under age six chapter books, but that is in part because they overhear a lot of longer books I’m reading with my older children. Favorite chapter books at this age have been the Little House series and Milly-Molly-Mandy.

Creativity

Art and music are natural to children. We mimic our Creator in our desire to express and make; foster opportunities for your children to draw, sing, paint, play instruments, dance, etc. Expose them to quality art through books of fine art, or prints in your home.

Play lovely music in your car and home. Set up easy access to simple art supplies like paper, watercolors, crayons, homemade playdough, yarn, pencils, etc. Collect a basket of shakers and rhythm instruments.

Two ways to make music accessible to children is through hymns and folk songs. These both bridge a generation gap bringing people of all ages together and fostering community. We sing around our dinning table after meals or in the car. All you need to get started is a good hymnal or a list of a

few patriotic songs. A couple favorite artists we’ve enjoyed

are Elizabeth Mitchell and Peter Yarrow; both have CDs of children’s folk songs that are very pleasant to listen to and sing along with.

Relationships

Enjoy your children! Whatever you enjoy, share it with your children. I called my mother this afternoon to ask her what she enjoyed most about homeschooling preschoolers, and what she wishes she had known 30 years ago when she began.

She of course talked about how much she loved reading aloud to us, but she also mentioned how much she enjoyed doing arts and crafts with me as a young child.

While this is something that often stresses me out, it was something she enjoyed. Do I remember all the crafts? No, but I do remember her spending time with me and sharing what she loved to do.

I think arts and crafts are promoted by teachers who enjoy them; I did some crafts last week with my 3-year-old and we had a really sweet time, but I was struck at the end of our time that what mattered was me spending time with her.

She was just as cheerful cleaning out the car with me today as she was painting last week; the relationship and the kindness you

treat them with is what matters. So love your children, share your

passions, and remember: It’s OK if you aren’t a crafty preschool teacher.

One of my favorite practical things to do with my kids is bake. I usually bake several things a week, either for a birthday or breakfast or a weekend dessert.

Recently my children were talking around the table about how to make something and each volunteering their own recipe. I thought, oh, this is going to be hilarious. You may have read recipes written by kindergarteners and they can be really adorably wrong.

But I was in for a surprise – they were all correct! My 3-year-old had all the steps for making pizza down in order.

My 6-year-old knew all the ingredients for cake, and my 10-year-old told me how to make cake and even had quantities that were very accurate.

I was impressed, but then I remembered, well, they do cook with me all the time; apparently our kids are watching. But you knew that.

As you develop your family culture, recognize that it will be unique and different even from other families with similar priorities. Embrace the birth order, genders, personalities, and interests of your particular members. Celebrate the location of your home, the larger community in which you have been placed, and the neighbors and relatives who surround you. “Life has loveliness to sell.”

Education comes before academicsContinued from Page 8

Page 10 • September 2018 • Esprit

Bledsoe County Christian Home Educators

Bledsoe County Christian Home Educators is offering classes as follows: Drama, lab dissection, elementary science experiments, Constitution study, cooking, art, and Bible. Pre-school classes are also available. Field trips and community service projects are scheduled throughout the school year. BCCHE is a conservative Christian home educators support group open to home educators in Bledsoe and surrounding counties.

For more information contact Tara Bray (423) 447-3312 / e-mail rbayfamily6@aol.com, Linda Rogers (423) 447-7102, or Teresa Miller (423) 775-4800.

Bradley County support group

https://www.homeschool-life.com/tn/bche/

Finding Joy in the Journey BCHE is a homeschool support group

located in beautiful Bradley County, TN. We primarily serve the residents of Cleveland,

TN and the surrounding areas. Cleveland/Bradley County is just north of Chattanooga in the southeast corner of the state. We draw members from all over Bradley County, Polk County, and even some from McMinn and Hamilton counties. Cleveland is a city with a multitude of activities available to homeschoolers. BCHE has annual New-to-homeschool meetings (usually in the spring) that are beneficial to anyone considering or just beginning homeschooling. All of our meetings and activities are designed to support, encourage, and inspire you in your homeschool endeavors, and we seek to build a sense of community by connecting you to others who are homeschooling.

You will find the meetings, along with a few of our activities, posted to our calendar on our public bche.org.

Membership is required for access and participation in our many other activities. You may also email us at info@bche.org and someone from our leadership team will be more than happy to help you.

Catholic support groupWe are a Catholic Homeschool co-op

whose members together to strengthen and enrich our children’s Catholic knowledge and understanding. We meet Fridays at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.

St. Ambrose Catholic Coopstspeterandpaulbasilica.com/pages/

stambroseContact: stambrosecoop@gmail.com

Catoosa Home Education Assn., CHEA

https://www.homeschool-life.com/153/

The Catoosa Home Education Association is a homeschool support group in the Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee area. Group membership is open to all homeschooling families. CHEA is a Christian organization, though a statement of faith is not required to join our group. Decisions made for our group are based on Christian principles.

CHEA is an active group and has much to offer families seeking social interaction and field trips.

To help supplement your homeschooling, we also provide the following: geography, science, and history fairs; nature club and many interesting field trips. Our annual events include: a Back to School Party, a Fall Event, Thanksgiving Feast, Christmas and Valentine’s Day parties, and a Field Day in late spring.

CHEA offers something for every age group. There are boys and girls socials for middle/high school students and play dates for elementary children.

Benefits to joining our group include the following:

• Access to the members-only section of our website, which includes a calendar with CHEA and community events and activities, a discussion forum for open communication between members, a classified ads section, an online member directory, weekly e-mail reminders of upcoming activities and more.

• Admission to members-only CHEA parties and group discounts on field trips.

• Membership cards for identification in our group and discounts at area stores and several local venues.

• Discount membership in HSLDA.• Affordable membership. Annual

membership (Aug.1 - July 31) is only $30 for new members. Renewing members pay $25 if dues are paid before July 31.

Whether you are new to the area or new to homeschooling, you will find CHEA to be a warm and supportive group. To become a member, visit www.chea-ga.org for more information and a membership application. Or contact us via Email: catoosahea@yahoo.com.

Charlotte Mason group

There is a Facebook group if you are interested in Charlotte Mason and live in the Chattanooga area. The Facebook group is Chattanooga Charlotte Mason.

Contact Jeannette at the address below if you do not do Facebook and she will add you to an email list for announcements.

A group of CM-minded moms are meeting downtown the second Tuesday of the month. If you have an interest in the Charlotte Mason-style of learning or in any of our activities, please consider joining the Facebook group to stay in the loop. We are also organizing nature outings for our children.

Our plan this summer is to continue to read Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass.

Curriculum plans for years 1-6 (36-week schedules) and a wealth of CM tips and articles are available at www.amblesideonline.org. Also visit simplycharlottemason.com. Contact Jeannette Tulis, jmtulis@gmail.com.

Chattanooga Home Educators Fellowship

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ChattHomeEdFellowship/info

This is a group designed to help homeschoolers network with other homeschoolers and to share homeschool information and activities in the Chattanooga area. Subscribe by emailing chatthomeedfellowship-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Cornerstone Christian Co-opCornerstone Christian Co-op is a Christian

homeschool group for families in the Chattanooga and North Georgia area. We meet weekly in south Chattanooga to offer classes and special events to meet the educational needs of children from age 4 to 15. Next year we are planning to offer a preschool/kindergarten class and, for 1st-10th grade, classes in Art, PE, Nature Study, and Anatomy and Physiology.

We also have optional field trips and service projects throughout the year.

Parents remain on site during the co-op to

Support Groups

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 11

teach or assist in a class. A nursery is provided for infants and toddlers. Cost is $65/child for the semester. Please visit our website at cornerstonecoop.com or contact us at info@cornerstonecoop.com for information.

Marion County Contact Sam and Kathy Clemons 423

942-5001 or queenmotherof8@yahoo.com, longtime experienced home educators happy to encourage anyone in our county who is pursuing a godly educational goal.

Lookout MountainLookout Mountain Homeschoolers is a

primarily online support group with members from Lookout Mountain Tennessee and Georgia and the surrounding valleys. Group activities occur when planned by any members and posted to the group. Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/236295226520758/ to join the Facebook group.

Rhea County Homeschoolers This group of moms share an invite-only FB

page giving tips on field trips, events at Bryan

College in Dayton, and more. Email Ginger Sumerlin at thesumerlins@bellsouth.net.

Signal MountainSmha.weebly.comSignal Mtn Homeschool Group is open

to homeschool families in and around Signal Mountain. We currently offer monthly field trips, a science experimenter’s club, and a wonderful history club. We have periodic teen outings. An organized co-op is offered on the mountain for those families that are interested. Newcomers are welcomed to join our group. Diane Bardoner is our current leader and is happy to answer your questions. You can contact her at babienurse@earthlink.net.

If you are interested in having your child participate please do not wait to contact the sport organizer.

Once tryouts are held it is difficult to include late comers.

Fall sports (approx. July- Oct)

— Cross Country for grade 3 – 12 both boys and girls contact Crystal Faudi runpatriot@gmail.com

— Girls Varsity Soccer – must be 13 by Aug. 15 contact Doug Sanders dls0er1@gmail.com

— Girls Volleyball – high school and middle school ages. Contact Heather Calhoun. Email heatherc0609@gmail.com

— High school volleyball — Jan Bontekoe, janell@bontekoes.com

— Middle school boys soccer. Patrick Miles patmiles.stn@gmail.com

— Middle School soccer Girls Contact Brian Scott. Email: brian22scott@gmail.com, Cell: 423-598-9262

Winter sports (Oct – early March)

— Basketball for boys and girls grades 4 through 12, contact

Jon Land, Patriot basketball director. Email: J.Land@Patriot-Basketball.com

Website: http://patriot-basketball.com/

Spring sports (March – May)

—Track — Crystal Faudi at runpatriots@gmail.com

— Boys middle school baseball. Contact James Perry or Brad Posey — ChattPatriotsMSBaseball@gmail.com

— High school baseball, Brad Posey, ChattPatriotsHSBaseball@gmail.com

— Boys Varsity Soccer – highschool age. Amy Hammond at ahammond.hammond@gmail.com

— Girls Middle School softball - Wade Hinson, wadehinson@gmail.com

— High school softball, Brad Posey, brad.posey@verizonwireless.com

— Swimming Rebekah Reyher americanelite9@aol.com

— Tennis — need organizer— Football – need organizerGolf – need organizerAthletic Director Janell

Bontekoe janell@bontekoes.com 423-421-0550

Sign up for homeschool sports

Patriots basketball players make a shot against a rival team. Learn more about Patriots basketball from its website.

Support groupsContinued from Page 10

Page 12 • September 2018 • Esprit

Digital Esprit in Print— Your Choice

Esprit newsletter returns to mailboxes

Watch social media for print Esprit launch

Old-fashioned luxuryup-to-minute outlook

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 13

Dad, sons — join us at Trail Life USARegular chapter meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday nights at Clear Creek

Church of Christ in Hixson. • 5th Tuesdays reserved for dads’ planning • CSTHEA sponsored • Enter via gym doors at side

Call Dustin Sprick

710-9014

Rollicking adventure

Mom defends letting her girl, 8, walk dog

WILMETTE, Ill. — The police were called on a mom in Illinois after she let her 8-year-old daughter walk their dog alone.

Corey Widen’s daughter, Dorothy, was walking the family dog when police received a call from someone saying they spotted a “5-year-old” walking a dog unsupervised, she told CNN affiliate WBBM.

Police arrived at Widen’s home and when they were told Dorothy was in fact 8, police said it was fine and left.

Not long after officers left her Wilmette home, Widen said the person who called the police then phoned the Department of Community and Family Services, which launched an investigation into Widen, a move she said is unnecessary.

“I think it’s a crazy waste of resources,” she told WBBM.

Widen hired an attorney and the case was resolved within two weeks, but the incident left her feeling “mom-shamed.”

“It turns your world upside down,” she said.

Following the incident, Widen said Dorothy “cried for an hour and now refuses to go outside with her dog,” she wrote on Facebook.

The single homeschooling mom told WBBM she is always there for her children.

“You can accuse me of a lot of things, but not supervising them is not one of them,” she said.

As for letting Dorothy walk the dog alone, Widen intends to let her child continue to do her chore and walk the family’s dog.

Don't homeschool your children, unschool them

Many families leave traditional educational institutions because they value individual freedom and recognize the ways in which compulsory mass schooling can halt creativity and deter originality in the name of obedience and conformity. But too many wind up replicating the same systems at home. They import the same packaged

curriculum and testing, the same gold stars and check marks, the same coercion and control inherent in the brick-and-mortar holding pens where so many children spend the bulk of their early lives.

Today, homeschoolers are increasingly ridding themselves not just of schools but of traditional notions about schooling. These so-called "unschoolers" allow children to explore topics they are passionate about, while being supported by the abundant resources of both real and virtual communities.

For California mother Heather Greenwood, this balance means encouraging her children's interests while instilling values of personal responsibility and perseverance. "For us, unschooling doesn't mean un-parenting," Greenwood says. ***

Greenwood took a winding path to unschooling. Her daughters, now 17 and 12, spent time in public schools, Montessori schools, and a public charter school that offered a hybrid homeschooling option with a state-sponsored curriculum. Because she and her husband wanted more autonomy and flexibility for their kids' learning, they began independently homeschooling while following a classical curriculum, but they still found it too restrictive. Kerry McDonald, Reason October 2018.

Bits & pieces

Page 14 • September 2018 • Esprit

High school girls’ soccer schedule

Middle school girls’ soccer schedule

HSLDA is excited to announce the opening of our annual essay contest with a Nov. 1 deadline.

We invite all homeschool students ages 7—19 to submit thoughtful responses to the prompts outlined below.

Winning essays will receive up to $200 in cash prizes! View the contest info and guidelines here.

• Category 1 (ages 7–10*): From being an astronaut or teacher to being president, there are so many exciting jobs you could have when you're older! What do you want to be when you grow up—and why?

• Category 2 (ages 11–14*): As exciting new technology changes the way things get

done, jobs change as well. Teachers no longer get chalk all over

their hands, farmers use tractors instead of horses for ploughing, and reconnaissance missions are often done via satellite instead of physically scoping out the terrain. What is a job that you think would have been really fun to do "back in the day"—and why?

• Category 3 (ages 15–19*): Technology is advancing so fast that some popular jobs didn't even exist 10 years ago! Imagine some of the fascinating new jobs that could exist in 2028: tele-surgeon . . . drone delivery support . . . flying car parking attendant. . . What is a fascinating new job that you hope exists by 2028—and why would it be so great? (Tip: Start by thinking of a need in your family, community, or the larger society. Could technology be used to help meet that need? What would that job look like?)

More at https://hslda.org/content/Contests/Essay_main.aspx

Careers of future focus of writing contestChildren imagine future jobs as high schoolers eye tech solutions.

Esprit • September 2018 • Page 15

Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center is proud to be partnering with the Wauhatchie School to present our 2018 Fall Homeschool Day. During the day, your children will be able to participate in programming that comes straight from our Forest School.

There will be elements of education and bushcrafting offered throughout the day. Enjoy learning from our Forest School instructors and take advantage of an introductory rate to sign your children up for the Forest School.Programming

10am - noon: Water quality survey: Join Reflection Riding Naturalist and Forest School teacher Rosie Lee to learn how to determine water quality based on the animals living within it.

10am - 11am: GLOBE atmosphere observations: Join Forest School teacher Rebecca Westbrook-Toker for a brief introduction into using GLOBE and making atmospheric observations.

11am - 12pm: Nature Journaling: Join Forest School teacher Rebecca Westbrook-Toker to learn how to study and record nature experiences with a nature journal.

12:00pm - 1:00pm: Q&A about Forest Kindergarten: Join a staff member from the Forest Kindergarten to learn about this

wonderful opportunity for children ages 3-6.They will be answering questions for an

hour in the Welcome Center.12:30pm - 1:30pm: Fire Building: Join

Naturalist and Forest School bushcraft instructor Taylor Berry to learn the basics of fire building.

1:30- 2 pm: Animal presentation: Join Naturalist Corey Hagen for a tour of our

Native Animal exhibit. Learn about some of our local wildlife and what you can do to help save one of our native friends.

2 - 3 pm: Shelter Building: Join Naturalist and Forest School bushcraft

instructor Taylor Berry to learn the basics of building a shelter with minimum materials.

Trails, walks, streams mark Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center's list of asssets.

Reflection Riding sets homeschool day

Nature center special

Sept. 10Time: 10 am - 3 pmPrice: $5 for homeschool

students and a suggested donation of $10 for parents