Homeschool info night for church/community?

[Melissa in St Louis]

Has anyone ever hosted an info night for their church or community? What did you do to prepare? How did it go? I've heard that several families in our church are pondering homeschooling, and I'd love to be able to encourage them and help them find the info they need. :001_smile:

[FaithManor]

Yes, I've taught a "What is homeschooling and how to get started" class at our church. We offer two...one that is inclusive faithwise so it is secular in orientation and applicable to everyone. The other is faith based and includes discipleship, using discernment when choosing a curriculum that is "Christian" in nature, implementing secular curriculums and don't let anyone tell you are a bad Christian parent for choosing a secular curriculum.

 

Then I've also taught some specific one night classes on "neo-classical education" or "Why study Critical Thinking and Logic?" etc.

 

The faith based classes and the "why/how to's" have been very well attended. The secular one, not so much. We live in a very, ummmm, rural/backwater/go with the flow and everything will be okay, kind of hamlet. So either there aren't too many outside of churches that are thinking of homeschooling, or (and this is more likely) they are afraid that a class held in a church isn't acutally going to be non-sectarian and is an excuse to get them on the property and beat them over the head with the Bible. We've tried to encourage people that we are just trying to help and that their won't be a Gospel presentation.

 

We do these classes every two years. I my next secular class is as poorly attended as the last, I won't bother to prepare for another one.

 

Faith

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We do these classes every two years. I my next secular class is as poorly attended as the last, I won't bother to prepare for another one.

 

Faith

 

Do you think it would matter if you held the secular class somewhere like a library instead of at the church? Not sure if it would, just wondering.

[SonshineLearner]

Yes, I've taught a "What is homeschooling and how to get started" class at our church. We offer two...one that is inclusive faithwise so it is secular in orientation and applicable to everyone. The other is faith based and includes discipleship, using discernment when choosing a curriculum that is "Christian" in nature, implementing secular curriculums and don't let anyone tell you are a bad Christian parent for choosing a secular curriculum.

 

Then I've also taught some specific one night classes on "neo-classical education" or "Why study Critical Thinking and Logic?" etc.

 

The faith based classes and the "why/how to's" have been very well attended. The secular one, not so much. We live in a very, ummmm, rural/backwater/go with the flow and everything will be okay, kind of hamlet. So either there aren't too many outside of churches that are thinking of homeschooling, or (and this is more likely) they are afraid that a class held in a church isn't acutally going to be non-sectarian and is an excuse to get them on the property and beat them over the head with the Bible. We've tried to encourage people that we are just trying to help and that their won't be a Gospel presentation.

 

We do these classes every two years. I my next secular class is as poorly attended as the last, I won't bother to prepare for another one.

 

Faith

 

Would you be willing to share this information? I might offer some classes like that if I didn't have to start from scratch...

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Has anyone ever hosted an info night for their church or community? What did you do to prepare? How did it go? I've heard that several families in our church are pondering homeschooling, and I'd love to be able to encourage them and help them find the info they need. :001_smile:

 

I did a presentation that was maybe an hour long for a group of military spouses headed overseas to areas without DOD schools. My focus was on what homeschooling was, different styles, resources and regulations specific to that situation. Even though many of the families weren't planning to homeschool, I presented it as an option to be aware of for families that had special needs, didn't mesh well with the international or local schools available, or who ended up homeschooling in extremis because of emergency evacuations.

 

There is one family who was represented in that presentation who did end up homeschooling a couple years later.

 

I tend to do a lot of handouts that mention different styles and give lots of web resources. I try to bring some of our books. I like to demonstrate with the books that there are a lot of options, they aren't all from a particular viewpoint, some are scripted and some are at higher levels and that homeschooling can be an opportunity to delve into some great literature.

 

You might also look for a thread I posted about hosting a mini convention. You could do this with just a few families and invite lots of people to come and check out homeschooling.

[Melissa in St Louis]

Thanks so much! I'm off to look up the mini-convention stuff! :001_smile:

[Jeanne in MN]

I've been on both sides; went to one, helped put one on. Even though the majority of people interested are Christian, I would definately host it in a neutral setting, like a library. I am a Christian, but I was afraid to go because I was afraid they might be too conservative and I'd feel really out of place.

 

Putting them on, we talked about different ed. styles, (unit studies, Charlotte Mason, classical, unschooling, etc.), how to get started, curriculum, hsing books/resources, state laws/guidelines, etc. We had a number of curriculum choices that we all brought to lay out for people to look at. Certainly a question and answer time and food for afterwards so we could mingle and visit and answer more questions.