If you need to place an order with Usborne, why not support N.A.S.H. at the same time? A percentage of the sales on all books ordered by August 29th, through the following link will go directly to the funding of N.A.S.H.! Whether you have a younger or older children, Usborne is sure to have something that they will enjoy.
Purchase your books at the following link: N.A.S.H. Usborne Fundraiser
While looking at my calendar a few days ago, I realized that we are approaching our twelfth homeschool anniversary. According to hallmark.com, I should expect gifts of silk, linen and pearls. I’ll drop a few hints and register at Saks later. First, I want to share the story of how we became a secular homeschooling family:
Twelve years ago, my oldest daughter was in third grade at the local, public school, and she was struggling, but challenges were nothing new to her. Born weighing less than two pounds, she’d already been through a lot. Doctors were honest and straight-forward about her prognosis from the beginning and predicted that, if she lived through birth and then survived the inevitable preemie complications and infections, she would have significant developmental and learning challenges. We didn’t know how severe or what kind, so every milestone she met was a cause for celebration.
Visits from a hospice nurse and an early intervention specialist began the same week she came home from the hospital. She was monitored closely and diagnosed with mild to moderate learning disabilities and developmental delays before her second birthday. As she got older, she was easily frustrated, often anxious and stubbornly resistant to change. During her first year of kindergarten, she developed an unusual coping mechanism: she completely stopped talking at school.
That may not sound particularly alarming, but this wasn’t shyness. And it wasn’t temporary. The following summer, she was formally diagnosed with social phobia and selective mutism, a response to stress that causes someone to involuntarily become mute in overwhelming social situations. Specialists, therapists and developmental interventionists could not get this child to talk. And she didn’t utter a sound at school from the middle of her first year in kindergarten to the end of third grade.
Some resources describe selective mutism as a disorder. Others approach it as an indirect effect of or coping mechanism for a larger disorder like anxiety. Our search for answers was long, frustrating and fruitless. What eventually became apparent to me was that, regardless of what caused the anxiety in the beginning, it was important to remove my daughter from the situation that caused her the most stress (school) in order to allow her to get a proper education and to learn to cope with and overcome her anxiety.
Home education was the answer for us. Initially, I was reluctant. I knew a few homeschooling families, and I didn’t want to be like them. They were church-going rule-followers with traditional family values. I am not. They used religious resources and Biblical study as a guide. I didn’t want that. And I knew no secular homeschooling families. Nonetheless, with her dad’s support, I took what I thought would be a short break from my career in media and dedicated myself to my little girl’s education and well-being.
It was slow going at first. During instruction, my daughter would shut down and stop speaking to me. Then, she’d resume conversation when “school” was over. Eventually, I learned to take cues from her. When she’d stop talking, I’d stop talking, and we’d write notes back and forth until she’d completed her school work. From there, she graduated to whispering when she was unsure of an answer (she was terrified of being wrong.). Then she began talking all the time. Two years later, she was on a stage in front of a crowd reciting lines from Shakespeare as Helen of Troy.
In retrospect, I know I pushed too hard that first year. My naive goal was to get her caught up with her peers in time to put her back in school. One day, it dawned on me that sending her back would likely undo all the hard work we’d done and plunge her back into a silent existence. At that moment, we became a homeschoolers for life.
Rather than overprotecting or sheltering her from the “World of Stress”, I believed that a homeschool environment based on reason and sound observations would allow us to rebuild her confidence, rekindle her sense of curiosity and then gradually reintroduce her to the “World of Possibilities”. Our hard work has paid off.
She is still awkward and uncomfortable in many social situations, but she has learned how to handle herself, make friends, hold conversations, tell jokes and be happy. At the age of 22, she may not know how to drive (yet) but she is learning computer programming and hopes to create her own games and apps. A few years ago, she returned to her old school to meet with and actually speak to her former teachers. Some of us cried. It was amazing to see her come full circle.
Now, I am homeschooling my younger daughter. Although I hesitate to call her typical or average, she has none of her sister’s challenges. They couldn’t be more different. We started this journey to help a silent little girl find her voice, but I continue to homeschool because I’m convinced that I can give my children a better, more realistic and more useful education based on reason. It has been the best parenting decision we ever made.
Natalie West (Guest Post) is a writer in Mississippi.
It’s hard to believe that the N.A.S.H. Conference is 20 days away! It seems like only yesterday that we were in the beginning stages of building this dream. We are so very excited to not only meet you all but also to come together to build N.A.S.H. into a community for all secular homeschooling families.
For those who have yet to book your hotel room, N.A.S.H. was able to secure five additional rooms at the discounted rate of $71/night. This rate does not include any meals, however those are available for purchase on our website.
There has been a lot of talk about the expense of the N.A.S.H. Conference. I do understand why this would preclude people from wanting to attend. I will be making sacrifices to go, but I want to go anyway. Why? Because the value of what is being created here far outweighs the cost.
I understand that not only am I paying for a conference but I am paying for the birth of an idea and the creation of something from nothing. I understand that sometimes the first batch of something is more expensive – money needs to be made to support the next group coming in. Creating something takes more time, effort, and energy than replicating what has gone before. Startup costs add up and I am willing to help pay, just a little, for them.
And yet, I am willing to pay more because I need N.A.S.H. to exist! I need the hope of future N.A.S.H. conferences. I need to know other parents are in the world like me, struggling to homeschool my kids in a secular way. In hopes that in the future we won’t struggle because we will have a resource to help us on our path.
I support N.A.S.H. because I want to be the change I want to see in the world.
Non-secular conferences cost very little because they have so many more potential vendors and support organization. Tax-exempt churches subsidize the costs. Secular homeschoolers get none of that. Removing the religious and religion-affiliated organizations from the roster gives a much smaller pool of vendors and supporters, because of how pervasively religion is integrated with homeschooling!
I need N.A.S.H. because I live in a world where homeschoolers are homeschoolers for religious reasons. So many curriculums have been created to help this large group of homeschoolers. Math texts contain bible verses and science texts teach creationism.
I need N.A.S.H. because memorizing a bible verse is not needed to understand algebra.
I live in a world where, as a homeschooling parent wanting to teach evolution 2 years ago, I was told in order to do so I would have to create the lessons myself. Some curriculum will avoid the subject of creationism and evolution all together and claim they are neutral on the subject and avoid all lessons that might refer to either. This confuses me on how one would teach about animals and not brush against evolution. Or how one would teach geosciences and not need to say the age of our planet. Or how one would teach about space and not talk about “The Big Bang”.
I need N.A.S.H. because the Earth is not 6,000 years old.
I need N.A.S.H. because the most economical way for me to buy curriculum is to attend the local religious homeschool conference and when I approach vendors and I ask if their books are secular they look at me with fear in their eyes. Some companies with this question have told untruths, yes they teach evolution, and then what they don’t mention is this lesson comes right after the chapter on intelligent design.
I feel alone in the “Bible Belt” homeschooling my kids. I want to stop joining homeschool groups and co-ops that ask me to sign statements of faith. I don’t want to lie, so how do I balance that against giving my kids group learning experiences? I don’t want to have to make that choice. Usually I leave the group and break the hearts of my children. We go once and my kids all connect with someone, then I have to say we won’t return.
I need N.A.S.H. to know that I am not alone.
Most of the online secular groups might have one school age child (over the age of 6). I have 3 kids and my eldest is not here to be a good influence on your kids. I want an easy way to find people like me. I want people with middle school kids, who want friends, and who don’t attend church on Sundays. I want a way to find these people
I need N.A.S.H. because when I attend non-religious local homeschool days I have to put on my fake face. I have one homeschool group where a woman thinks she is my “bestie”. She is certain we met at a prayer group. I let her talk and I let her believe the lie I won’t dispel because I fear being shunned. I fear that if I were to be wholly honest the other kids will be told to shun mine.
I need N.A.S.H. so I don’t have to lie about who I am.
I need N.A.S.H., even if it is a little out of my budget. I need N.A.S.H. because I want to hope things can change. I need N.A.S.H. because I would like to no longer feel like an outcast among homeschoolers.
Julie V. (Guest Post)- Late sleeper, bad cook, lousy housewife, book reader, board-game player, fun, singing, secular homeschooling mom incognito in the Bible Belt.
Grab your best gal pal and hop aboard the N.A.S.H. van as we head to Atlanta for the N.A.S.H. Conference.
This package can be purchased on our website:http://www.nationalallianceofsecularhomeschoolers.com/conference.html
This offer expires August 10th at 11:59 PM.
This is your opportunity to get in on the experience of the 1st Inaugural National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers Conference with the chance to win a free, three-night stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Atlanta Airport. You will have five opportunities over the next several days to participate in the contest. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, our website and our blog, as the van could show up on any of our social media outlets.
Whenever you see the N.A.S.H. Van, the contest is on! Be the first to win your hotel stay with a conference purchase (purchases will vary). All purchase rules will be posted with each, new contest. The first van spotting will be sometime today- we don’t know when, we don’t where, so make sure you’re following us everywhere!
Can you spot the N.A.S.H. van?
The Inappropriate Homeschooler is hosting a Read-a-Thon to benefit the National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers!
Who doesn’t love to escape into a good book? Many children enjoy the ability to grab a book and go on an adventure from the comfort of their own home. Whether they’re well-read, beginning to read, or even struggling to read, when a child picks up a book that pulls them in, the magic begins. The Inappropriate Homeschooler is sponsoring her first-ever Read-a-Thon, a program that will combine the magic of reading with the raising of funds for the National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers (N.A.S.H.). Each child (of reading age) who participates will ask their friends, family, and neighbors to sponsor them in this program. Whether grandma sponsors a penny per page or a dollar per page, every sponsorship helps!
This is a great opportunity to foster the love of reading in your child while also supporting the funding of N.A.S.H. The more pages your child reads, the faster they will climb through the different levels. Once your child reaches their first level, they will earn a prize. The higher the level, the greater the prize (only one prize per participating child).
The Read-a-Thon begins August 1st and ends August 31st and all forms and monies collected are to be submitted to The Inappropriate Homeschooler by September 10, 2014. All prizes will be mailed out by October 1, 2014.
Once you complete the sign-up form, all forms and information to get you started will be sent to you via email.
Happy reading adventures!
N.A.S.H. - National Alliance of Secular Homeschoolers 