Once Upon a Time, not so long ago, a diverse group of mothers, who felt like square pegs in local home-school circles, united to form an “inclusive” support group for home educators. In those days of the early 1990′s, homeschooling of ANY sort was considered way out from the mainstream. And not following the traditional “school at home” model was extremely “out of the box”. So Unschoolers of Memphis was formed! In those days, unschooling was a popular term for something radically different from traditional textbook reliant education, discussed in magazines and television talk shows. Unschooling represented a reaction against institutionalized artificial learning, and distinguished itself from “school at home” by encouraging more natural and wholistic approaches to education and declaring emphatically that spending a lot of money on prepackaged curriculum is not necessary, that all one really needs is a library card and a healthy enthusiasm and curiosity about the world and people around one. And for many years thereafter the name “Unschoolers” gave a clear message of being for ALL homeschoolers, not just for followers of one particular educational philosophy. But as we entered the second decade of the new millennium, it became apparent that times had changed and so had the homeschooling buzz words. When talking to the new generation of homeschool families, the term “unschoolers” had a different connotation than in the past and no longer felt as “inclusive” as it did when the group formed. The new group of “misfits” were looking for something “inclusive” and “eclectic” but did not necessarily identify themselves as “unschoolers”.
- We are STILL an inclusive, secular homeschooling group!
- Our mission is STILL to provide an inclusive, secular network of support and information for all families involved in home education, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or philosophy of homeschooling!
- We STILL work cooperatively to create an enriching community of homeschooling families!
- We now communicate via an online message board.
- We STILL offer monthly support meetings!
Fast Forward to 2013, HOMe has over 200 registered families. We have more than 3000 topics on our message board. Parents have planned or led hundreds of classes, field trips, clubs, co-ops, park days and social events. We host a monthly support group meeting and an annual Getting Started meeting, which are open to the public. It’s amazing how much we’ve grown and how much we’ve accomplished in a short amount of time. But this joyous work wouldn’t have been done without the determined efforts of many people who believe and support the mission of HOMe.
To make sure that HOMe continues to thrive, the creators of the group formed an administrative body, called BOB-Board of the Board. BOB creates policy and guidelines, maintains the functionality of the message board, offers support and suggestions to our members, encourages leadership within the group, communicates the happenings of HOMe, and oversees the financial process for setting up field trips and classes.
As we celebrate the growth of HOMe, your BOB administrators realized that it was time to formalize our group. We spent many hours developing official guidelines with the goal of making HOMe a 501c7 organization. With this status, HOMe will have access to many more opportunities! In order to provide these opportunities and grow our group, it is time to charge a nominal yearly membership fee per family. This yearly fee is $20 per family and will be collected from May 1 through August 1of each year through a secure Paypal link posted on the message board and the HOMe website. If you do not pay your dues by August 1, you will be dropped from the roster and message board. You are always welcome to rejoin at a later time. If you are experiencing financial hardships, please contact a BOB administrator.
The benefits of membership dues include:
- Access to a secure online forum to receive support and advice from fellow homeschooling families and to keep up to date on community events and other events of interest to homeschoolers. Board access will be limited to current, paid members to provide a more secure environment.
- Group discounts to community classes and events, and the power of a co-op to organize those classes. In the 2012-2013 school year, HOMe members have been able to use their affiliation with HOMe to organize classes for various ages with the Memphis Botanic Gardens, the Art House at the Jewish Community Center, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Lichterman Nature Center as well as various field trips around town.
- Member-led classes, clubs, co-ops, and meetups. In the 2012-2013 school year, these included the Neshoba Co-op, monthly K-2 meetup, monthly mythology club, monthly Latin club, Minecraft meetups, a high school level Civics class, a teen Shakespeare reading group, and many other classes, meetups and park days. Plans are already underway to add regular hiking/outdoors meetups, a readers’ theatre, academic clubs, a science fair and a spelling bee for the 2013-2014 school year, depending on member interest..
- HOMe curriculum sale (and the opportunity to look at curriculum during the year at support meetings, buy/borrow/trade curriculum, and get opinions and reviews from other members who have experience with various curricula or methods of homeschooling).
- Social events and parties during the year (currently for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter Holidays, Valentine’s Day, Spring, and an End of Year celebration). HOMe will provide some food and/or activities for these parties.
- Classes and seminars on homeschooling. We currently provide the Homeschooling 101/Getting Started with Homeshooling seminar each year, and would love to expand to offer other classes.
- HOMe dues also pay for expenses needed to run our organization such as insurance, web hosting for our website, bank fees/checks, and marketing expenses such as brochures and business cards.
Sarah Osborne
Chairperson, [email protected]
Penny Aronson
Co-Chairperson, [email protected]
Monica Norris
Financial Secretary & Treasurer, [email protected]
Niks Hill
Tech Support & Message Board Supervisor, [email protected]
Melody Green
Membership Coordinator, [email protected]
Jennifer Hensley
Communication Coordinator, [email protected]
Donna Metler
Diana Schmied
Members-At-Large
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