June 2004 Letter

About CHEACT

Beliefs and Biblical Basis
What we believe and why we believe it

Benefits
How CHEACT supports you

Volunteer
There are plenty of opportunities to jump in and make things happen for home schoolers in central Texas

BAD COMPANY

June 2004

Tis' the season! The season for school planning and homeschool fairs. CHEACT's own fair is coming up on June 25-26 and we think it will be a really good one. We have made some changes after hearing from our membership and we are happy to announce that not only will children be allowed, but so also will strollers, rolling luggage and wagons. We on the conference committee hope this makes the conference this year the most enjoyable yet for you.

But back to the children. We had our used fair last month and, while Lora Maurer did a bang-up job of running it (as usual), I couldn't help noticing something horribly wrong with the used fair: the children. If you brought your children to the used fair, think back on how they behaved. Were yours the ones who were climbing in the church planters? Were yours the ones who were pulling church property down off the walls? Were you the ones telling us, "Don't worry, I'm watching them"? Really? Watching them terrorize the facility so generously lent to us for this event? If you answer "Yes" to any of the above questions, then you are the bad parents of the bad kids who help homeschool co-ops and events get kicked out of facilities who would otherwise not mind taking a chance on us.

Understand this: we will welcome with open arms ALL well-behaved children. We are not (I hope) doing all this work homeschooling for academic excellence nearly so much as family excellence. Consider the great witness we could be to Palmer Events Center, to the vendors, to the attendees when our children are mannerly, courteous, and respectful! Consider the flip side. The vendors are the ones who make this conference possible for you every year, and they really do not like ill-behaved children anywhere near their booths. The other attendees are parents like yourselves who take this conference seriously and don't appreciate having to navigate around little monsters for an entire weekend. And I suspect that CHEACT is the only Christian group that Palmer regularly hosts. What will it say to them about us if we neglect to raise our children properly?

Let me reiterate that well-behaved children are most welcome at our conference. But badly behaved children will promptly be asked to leave. Children under 11 will be asked to remain with their parents at all times. Renegades will be hauled off to the CHEACT booth, their parents paged and given the boot. So before you plunk down money for them to attend, ask yourselves this: Are my children the ones who will be accepted or the ones who will be expelled?

Let's help Christian homeschooling preserve its good name. See you at the conference with all your little angels in tow.

Noël

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