Photos #2 ... HEAV was at Homeschool Day 2013 at Frontier Culture Museum

 Yvonne Bunn with Home Educators Association of Virginia

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
October 4, 2013

Photos #1 ... Homeschool Day 2013 at Frontier Culture Museum

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
October 4, 2013

Back in the home school classroom ... HEAV Convention 2011

THE CONVENTION IS COMING

ONLY 21 DAYS LEFT TO GO! 

(And only 4 days left to pre-register!)

Time is running out to take advantage of pre-registration prices!

Save up to $25...and Get into the Used Curriculum Sale Earlier! How?

Pre-register and save $10.*

Become an HEAV member and save another $15.*

Plus, by registering now, you'll also get an earlier admittance time to bargain hunt in the Used Curriculum Sale.**

*Based on full convention, Friday only, or Saturday only prices. 

**After early volunteer shopping, admittance is based on registration time. The earlier you register, the earlier you get to shop! Pre-registered attendees get to shop before those who register at the door.

   

Pre-registration ends Monday, May 23, so if you haven't yet, register today!

After May 23, you will still be able to register at the door.    

 

Why attend? Attending the convention can be a life-changing event that fuels and equips you for your homeschooling journey! At the convention, you will be surrounded by many like-minded families (you are not alone!) and find inspiration, encouragement, and resources.

 

FREE How-to-Begin Workshops

Considering Homeschooling? Just beginning? Don't miss the four FREE how-to-begin workshops on Thursday! These workshops have helped thousands learn about home education and how to get started.

FREE Admission for Parents of Preschoolers

Are you a parent of a preschooler? Or do you know a parent of preschoolers? Parents whose eldest child is not yet five and who have not attended the convention before are invited to enjoy the ENTIRE convention as our guest. Even if you're not sure about homeschooling, this is a GREAT opportunity to get parenting tips and fabulous resources. Learn more. 

Introduce a Family to Homeschooling!

Distributing convention materials is a great way to introduce people to home education and to encourage current homeschoolers in their journey! We have FREE how-to-begin workshops, and FREE admittance for qualifying parents of preschoolers (see above). Make sure those in your church or community--or your online friends--know about the convention! It's easy! Just check out these promo resources, download or order what you need, and hand them to friends, give them out at church, or post them online!

GET READY FOR THIS YEAR'S WORKSHOPS!  

 

Feeling like you're burning the candle at both ends? Check out these workshops!  

• Modern Families on a Treadmill: Run Over by High-Speed Good Intentions
  Dr. Richard Swenson   
• Margin, Balance, and Priorities: Making Space in Our Lives for the Things That Matter Most
  Dr. Richard Swenson 

Wondering how to manage with little ones at home? Check out these workshops! 

• Benefits of Infant and Toddler Training
  Kerin Morgan
• Preschool and Kindergarten Education at Home Susan Chrisman
• Home Educating with Babies and Toddlers and Loving It ~ Marilyn Boyer
• Structuring the Day with Infants and Toddlers in the Home ~ Kerin Morgan

Not so sure about your homeschooling journey? Need encouragement? Check out these workshops!  

• How to Be More Motivated Than an Olympic Champion ~ Jamie Lash
• Learned Helplessness: How to Defeat Self-Defeating Thoughts ~ Jamie Lash
• Using Failures as Stepping Stones for Success ~ Jamie Lash
• When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ~ Susan Chrisman
• One People: The People of God ~ Eric Burges
• Trusting God in Times of Trial ~ Jamie Lash
• In the Beginning, God Created; In the End, Sovereignty Wins ~ Richard Swenson
• Future Trends: Understanding Our Times ~ Richard Swenson
• Vision for Struggling Moms ~ Rick Boyer

See more workshop descriptions and view workshops by category.

 

Resources...Resources...and More Resources!

Looking for a language curriculum...or a Bible study? In need of good reading books for your child...or a solid math program? How about educational DVDs? It's all there in this year's Exhibit Hall. Take a look at who is coming, and get ready to browse some treasures.

 

Turn Those Used Books into Cash!

Now's the time to turn those books you've finished with into extra cash! Begin barcoding your books today, and be sure to check out these new packing and loading dock instructions. The last day to input books for sale is Wednesday, June 8, at 4 p.m., so don't delay!

Children's Program Volunteers Needed!

The Children's Program still has need of more adult and teen volunteers, ages 13 and up. Have fun working with little ones--and blessing them and their parents!

Graduation Volunteers Needed!

Calling all able-bodied men! If you would be willing to put on a suit and tie and help with crowd control on Saturday, June 11, 2011, just before the graduation ceremony (1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.), please contact graduation@heav.org or 804-278-9200.

An Easy Way to Volunteer...Without Missing a Workshop!
Host a Workshop
We still need speaker hosts and hostesses for many workshops. If interested, please contact Ann Harrell, our speaker host coordinator, at heavspeakerhost@gmail.com.   

Virginia Home School Week ... thank you, Gov. George Allen

George Allen at GOP Advance in Williamsburg ... December 2009.

Did you know that the last week of January is Virginia's official "Home Education Week"? Thanks to the work of Home Educators Association of Virginia, Governor George Allen declared the first Home Education Week in 1995.

Thank you, George Allen, from the Commonwealth's home schoolers.

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
December 2009

Home schoolers convention in Richmond June 10-12, 2010

I received a phone call this week from a 20-something mom of two who was looking for information about home schooling. Her oldest, she said, was ready to begin kindergarten.

As a fourteen-year home school veteran who served on the local support group's Board of Directors for a decade, I have fielded dozens of calls over the years from those wanting information about educating their children at home. The difference in the latest inquiry? It was a home school friend's daughter calling ... a daughter whose mother had taught her and who was now preparing to home school her own children.

If you home school or even if you are just thinking of home schooling, the 27th Annual Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) convention is the place for you next weekend. Curricula, science projects, manipulatives, art supplies, reading books, demonstrations, workshops, lectures, used curriculum sale ... there is much available at the convention as you begin or continue your home school journey.

The highlight of the convention weekend is Saturday afternoon's graduation of home schooled high school students from throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. Both my children participated in the HEAV graduation in Richmond, bringing closure to that portion of their educational experience before heading to college.

Check out this year's convention program to pre-plan your day(s), learn more about speakers, and map out where your favorite vendors are located. That book you saw in a catalog? There's nothing like talking with the vendor and actually handling the curricula to see if it fits your needs.

Held Thursday through Saturday, June 10-12, 2010, at the Richmond Convention Centre, the convention is a fulfilling experience with more materials available than can be imagined. For those beginning the journey, it's an affirmation that many walk the path with them and they are not alone. As they have for 27 years, HEAV's resources provide strength, encouragement, information, and the tools necessary for a successful educational experience.

Home Educators Association of Virginia Convention ... maybe I'll see you there!

A home schooling mom's field of dreams

From The Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons

H/T to HEAV.org

Attn home school community: Urgent prayers needed for Chris Klicka

Chris Klicka (left) and family

**********************************************
UPDATE 12 October 2009: Home school community loses Chris Klicka, 48, after long battle with MS.
**********************************************

~Chris Klicka in hospital in CO - Vickie Farris in hospital in VA~

Prayer warriors from throughout the nationwide home school community are urgently being asked to please pray for Chris Klicka, one of our long-time dedicated HSLDA leaders who is in a hospital in Colorado after taking a turn for the worse during the national Home School Legal Defense Association conference. Chris has suffered from MS (Multiple Schlerosis) for years but had felt well enough to attend the conference.

Home Educators Association of Virginia President Anne Miller has reached out to Virginia home families to please hold the Klicka family, as well as Vickie Farris who is also ill, in your thoughts and prayers by passing along the following:

Dear Friends in Christ,

Two of the Christian homeschool movement's most loved leaders are in urgent need of prayer right now. During our church service here in Maryland this morning a phone call came to one of the men of our church who works at HSLDA. It was Mike Smith, the president of HSLDA, calling from Colorado with two urgent prayer requests.

1. Chris Klicka has been battling MS (multiple sclerosis) for 20 years, and has taken a serious turn for the worse in recent months. You can read details written by Chris's dear wife, Traci, at CaringBridge.

Yesterday's entry from Tracy included the following: "Right now we are at our National Homeschool Conference in Colorado Springs. Chris has not been doing well for a few weeks now, but was feeling good enough and really wanted to come to the conference. We both knew that since he didn't make any progress from the hyperbaric oxygen treatment that he most likely would not be working much longer for HSLDA. So his desire in coming was two fold: One, to make it possible for our children to have one last opportunity to see so many of the friends they have made over the years nationwide and two, have an opportunity for us to say goodbye ourselves to these dear homeschool leaders and friends."

This summer Chris did a ten-minute interview about how the Lord has blessed him and used MS in his life.

Chris is now in ICU. He appears to be nearing the end, but he is probably more ready than anybody I know. Or the Lord may have another round of miracles for Chris's earthly life, which Chris would eagerly use to keep giving glory to God. Please join us and thousands of others in praying for Chris Klicka and his family. His family is gathering around him at the hospital now.

Here is the last part of Tracy's entry at CaringBridge this morning: "We don't know how much time we have left with Chris, but we believe it is not long. As a family, we all knew that Daddy was getting worse; we just didn't expect him to be getting ready to go home to be with his Abba Father quite this soon. We are all at peace with whatever God has planned, knowing that because He is there, it is all good. Thank you for your prayers as we prepare and spend our last days and hours with Chris. May they be filled with many precious moments and sweet fellowship with him!"

2. The second urgent prayer request is for Vickie Farris, the wife of Mike Farris (founder of HSLDA & Patrick Henry College) and mother of ten. She stayed home in Virginia with a serious internal infection. Mike is flying home from the national HSLDA conference immediately because the infection has taken a turn for the worse. Pray that the doctors can discern the right means to stop the infection. More than that, pray that the Divine Physician heals her quickly!

"I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah."
~ Psalm 3:4-5, 8 [NASB]

In Christ,
Bernie Beall
Family Mission Int'l
Great Commission Families

Anne also passed along this update from Rick Boyer, HEAV board member:

Many homeschool leaders from the national HSLDA conference visited Chris in the hospital yesterday and today. Christians from the local community are offering themselves in service. The Klicka family has even been blessed with a home in which to stay! Chris's parents and their family life pastor arrived today. Chris greeted his mother with a smile.

Remarkably, he drank some water and broth and will be moved to another floor shortly. He is rather confused right now, so would appreciate your prayers. Also, continue to pray for God to do the work He wants to do within the Klickas and within each of us who know and love them. May He be glorified!

After that came yet another update:

Chris has been moved from ICU to a regular room and Megan Klicka says, "...the doctors said it is miraculous--no medial explanation. Please continue to pray!"

Anne says, "Amen! Please join us as we continue to pray for both Chris Klicka and Vicki Farris."

During my 16 years educating my children at home, Chris Klicka and Mike Farris, husband of Vickie Farris, were there to guide, encourage, and comfort families against legal attacks from school officials throughout the nation. Since HSLDA is located in northern Virginia, we often were privileged to hear one or both of those men speak, either with local groups or at the HEAV conventions held annually in Richmond. They were pioneers ... their leadership was pivotal to the success of home schooling. Vickie was always there to support Mike in his quest to help others.

Across the nation ... those of faith are praying for these dedicated leaders. We will join them and ask others to do the same.

Home school day at Norfolk's Nauticus ... spend a day by the sea!

Last year over 1,200 home schoolers participated in Home School Day at Norfolk's Nauticus, an event co-sponsored by Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV), an association of families throughout the Commonwealth who educate their children at home.

This year the event will take place on Wednesday, January 21, from 10 am until 5 pm, with workshops, touch-tanks, exploring sea creatures, and my favorite -- walking the decks of the battleship USS Wisconsin, the ship my dad was stationed on in the Pacific during World War II. Now that's living history!

Adult admission is $10.95 and includes up to two free children's admissions. Additional children are $7 each; children 3 and under are free.

Register by Thursday, January 15, 2009.

Home Educators Association of Virginia ... working with Virginia's home schoolers since 1984.