South Carolina Home Educators Association

SCHEA Works Hard To Protect Our Rights as Homeschooling Families

South Carolina Home Educators Association

By Gale Farrier, South Carolina Home Educators Association

Don’t forget our past

In the mid 1980‘s home schooling was not a legal option for educating children in South Carolina.  However, families began to see the need, despite opposition from school districts.  Slowly, these homeschooling parents banded together and formed small  support organizations. The organizations they formed had a variety of  names and some are still in existence. One such group was the Carolina Family School Association. This group, which was originally located in Goose Creek, South Carolina, became the statewide homeschool support  group and its name was changed to the South Carolina Home Educators Association (SCHEA). SCHEA was formed to obtain a legislative solution  for homeschools, and to provide support and encouragement to homeschoolers. Originally, SCHEA had approximately ninety members.

SCHEA Works 365 Days a Year To Help Homeschooling Families in South Carolina

Today, SCHEA still has the same goals–to protect home schoolers from intrusive and unwanted legislation and to provide support and encouragement to all home schoolers across the state. There are currently approximately 900 SCHEA member families.  Is the state organization still necessary?  Is membership still as important today as it was 25 years ago?  The answer to both questions is a resounding  “YES!”  In spite of the fact that home schooling is now legal there is still much opposition to it both in the legislature and from the teachers’ union.  That was quite evident from the legislation that was just introduced this week in H3478.  This is a battle that we will never fully win and SCHEA is the one face in SC that is working hard to protect our rights. To legislators, numbers mean votes.  When we tell them we represent hundreds of  families–they listen.  To tell them we represent thousands of families would be even more significant! And they listened this week when we inundated them with calls about that bill.  And those who show up for Home School Day at the Capitol (April 11, 2013) do make an impact.  If you do not know who your representative is, go to www.votesmart.org and type in your zip code. You can find all the contact information there for your representative and senator.

From new home schoolers to veterans, there are always opportunities to encourage and support one another.  While today we do much of it through technology, the needs are always there.  And SCHEA is always available to help, whether it’s answering questions for accountability leaders or encouraging support group leaders, the needs never end.  If you have not joined your state organization, now is the time to do it.

Join SCHEA today to get a special gift!

Teach Them Diligently would like to offer anyone who joins SCHEA by the end of February 2013 and writes Teach The Diligently (or just TTD) on their application,  a Free Teach Them Diligently Tote bag and a special coupon to use towards your Teach Them Diligently registration.  You can join today by going to the SCHEA website and printing a membership application.

 

SCHEA thoroughly enjoyed, appreciated, learned from the opportunity to partner with Teach Them Diligently last year, and we look forward to doing it again this year. And we encourage you to be a part of it as well.