N.C. Homeschooling News Roundup 03/31/08

SPORTS

HENDERSON: Three of the state's top four Level 7 gymnasts are homeschoolers and heading to the state championship at Elon University (Hendersonville Times-News - March 29, 2008)

PEOPLE

GASTON: Mount Holly bluegrass band founded and led by the homeschooling Flowers family (Gaston Gazette - March 24, 2008)

NC Homeschool News Roundup 03-23-08

NEWS

STATEWIDE -- Republican gubernatorial candidate and former state Supreme Court justice Bob Orr calls for tax credits for "approved expenses" as part of his educational strategy ensuring parents are partners in the educational process. He does not mention homeschools explicitly in the policy paper on his website.

MECKLENBURG -- Over a thousand families are homeschooling in the Lake Norman area, according to this story. (Charlotte Observer, 03/02/08)

ACADEMICS

DURHAM -- Quest Homeschoolers of Durham will be competing in the state Odyssey of the Mind competition April 5 in Greenville. "Earlier this month, 1,118 students from 69 schools and organizations showed off their creativity in the Eastern Region competition. Teams advanced to the state finals by excelling in events such as writing and performing humorous skits on why dinosaurs became extinct and developing a balsa-wood structure that weighs no more than 15 paper clips but can support a huge amount of weight." (Raleigh News & Observer, 03/19/08)

MECKLENBURG -- Kelsey Rushing Farson, the daughter of Jak and Teresa Farson of Davidson, has been named a 2008 Morehead-Cain Scholar, one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in North Carolina. The scholarship to the University of North Carolina is worth over $80,000 and pays for summer programs and a laptop computer in addition to full tuition for the univeristy. The Morehead Scholarship was renamed last year after a $100 million donation from the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation. Congratulations Kelsey! (Greensboro News-Record, 3/12/08)

SPORTS

STATEWIDE -- Homeschool teams from Greensboro and Wake Forest were reported as favorites in the 12th annual East Coast Basketball Championships at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. (Lynchburg, VA, News-Advance, 03/19/08)

BUNCOMBE -- The Western Carolina Athletic Association Trailblazers established their credibility in a 1-1 tie against Enka High School in Asheville. (Asheville Citizen-Times, 03/23/08, with photo) According to Ernie Hodges, president of North Carolinians for Home Education, rules for the N.C. High School Athletic Association do not allow homeschooled athletes to be members of public school teams; however, there is nothing that restricts homeschool teams from competing against the public schools, as in this case and others around the state.

CLEVELAND -- Gardner-Webb University's women's softball program signs a homeschooled star from Virgina, where she led her club teams to national championships. (Gardner-Webb
University press release, 03/17/08)

ORANGE -- Hillsborough's Euroclydon Storm downs the Binghamton Blaze in quadruple overtime, 90-86, at the East Coast Home School National Basketball Tournament in Lynchburg, VA. (Binghamton, NY Press & Sun-Bulletin, 03/19/08)

RANDOLPH -- Jonathan McNeill of Asheboro won the state K-12 chess title and a $1500 cash scholarship at the N.C. State Scholastic Championship, sponsored by the N.C. Chess Association, February 22-24 in Charlotte. He will be representing the state at the G.M. Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Dallas this August. (Susan Polgar, 02/25/08)

PEOPLE

ASHE -- 2007 champion speller Josiah Wright, a homeschooler from Fleetwood, will give introductory remarks to the contestants of the 2008 Winston-Salem Journal Regional Spelling Bee. (Winston-Salem Journal, 3/24/08)

NC Homeschool News Roundup 03-16-08

NEWS

STATEWIDE -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Nielsen "said the solution to many of the state's education problems can be averted through home schooling," according to a newspaper article on education reform. (Rocky Mount Telegram, 03/16/08)

STATEWIDE -- Eric H. Smith, a Republican candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, told the Johnston County GOP convention Saturday that parents are the best judges of how to educate their children, and stated his support for charter schools, private schools, and home schooling as useful alternatives. (NCHSN exclusive, 03/16/08)

ALAMANCE -- The Alamance-Burlington School System's Parenting Subcommittee recommends a number of ways the school system can improve their interaction with parents, in hope that changes to the system to help parents "connect" with their children's educational process and lower the "achievement gap".

Increased and enhanced parental involvement in the schools will help lower the achievement gap by making the parents more knowledgeable of what is going on in their child's school and classroom, making the parents feel good about what is happening in the school, and improving parental support of the child's efforts and the school's efforts. Heightened parental interest and involvement in school enhances the child's views of the value of education and the importance of academic success.

They conclude,

These recommendations are clearly in place in most private and charter schools, and parent involvement goes without saying in home schooling.

(Alamance-Burlington School System web page, accessed 03/16/08)

HERTFORD -- Chowan University opens its instructional materials library to local homeschoolers. (Chowan University Headlines, 03/04/08)


PEOPLE

ASHE -- A performing group of homeschoolers, organized and led by 15-year-old Jeremiah Cullen, ministers to residents at Seagraves Nursing Home (Boone, The Mountain Times, 03/13/08)

EDGECOMBE -- The Tar River Home School Group gets socialization on field trips (Photo) (Tarboro Daily Southerner, 03/12/08)

MECKLENBURG -- Tanner Winchester, 10, of Waxhaw, took first place in his division at the Charlotte Piano Teachers' Forum competition in Charlotte recently. He has performed in a number of venues, including a lunch concert at Founder's Hall in Charlotte, where "Winchester demonstrated his flair for the classics. Many uptown workers did a double-take when they realized it was a little boy filling the hall with dazzling music." (Photo, video) (Charlotte Observer, 03/09/08)

POLK -- Homeschooler James Hyde of Saluda has been selected as a finalist for Clemson University's top scholarship, the National Scholars Program. The scholarship covers tuition, books, room and board, and study abroad for eighteen students selected this year. James plans to major in bioengineering. (Clemson University press release)


SPORTS

NEW HANOVER -- Homeschooled 10th grader Ellie Cooper was the top North Carolinian competing in the Junior Olympics in fencing, placing 98th nationally. Ellie competes in the foil category and represents the Cape Fear Fencing Association. (Wilmington Star-News, 03/05/08)

NC Homeschool News Roundup 03-09-08

NEWS


STATEWIDE -- More on new vaccination requirements:

• "A booster dose of TDAP vaccine [tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis (whooping cough)] will be required for ... Students in private, homeschool, and non-traditional schools who are 12 years old on or after Aug. 1, if five years or more have passed since the last dose ... [as well as] Students enrolling in college for the first time on or after July 1 who have not been vaccinated against tetanus and diptheria within the last 10 years"


• "The new rules, approved Monday by the state Commission for Public Health, also mandate a second dose of mumps vaccine for all children before enrolling in school, college, or university."

HARNETT -- Homeschooling mother files for school board

Lillington home schooling parent Jone Rose added her name to the ballot for the District 4 seat on the Harnett County School Board Friday, the last day of filing. ...

Mrs. Rose said she is aware that people will wonder why a home schooling parent would want to serve on the board for public schools. She said she is running because she knows other families may not be able to escape a public school system that isn't meeting all their needs.

"There are families out there who can't home school or afford to send their children to private school," she said. "They have no options. They are stuck. I want to bring my knowledge and understanding of the educational system to the table so we can improve the standards in Harnett County to benefit everyone."

(Dunn Daily Record, 3/3/08)

NASH -- Libary includes homeschoolers in plans for a $212,000 homework center
(Rocky Mount Telegram, 3/2/08)

SPORTS

STATEWIDE -- NCHE State Homeschool Basketball Tournament

Boys Semifinals - Forsyth 69, Raleigh 30
Girls Finals - Surry 52, Durham 33

(Winston-Salem Journal,3/02/08)

Sunday in the Western Theater

For a time in the first part of the war, ancestors on both sides of the family - mine and my wife's - were serving in the same part of the Confederate Army. A number of our North Carolina forefathers were in the 29th N.C. Infantry, commanded by Col. Robert B. Vance; my wife's ancestor, Capt. Samuel C. Godshall, served in the 11th Tennessee under General Rains (and in fact, Vance was in command of Rains' brigade after that officer was killed).

One of the religious histories of the war related a chaplain's visit to these units in the spring of 1863, somewhere in central Tennessee:

Rev. S. M. Cherry, one of the most devoted chaplains in the army, gives an account of the revival at this period in McCown’s division, to which he was attached as chaplain of the 2d Georgia battalion. … “While riding on,” says Mr. Cherry, “I met with Rev. Dr. Bunting, chaplain of the Texas Rangers, who kindly consented to preach for us. We found General Ector’s Texas brigade, and Colonel Vance’s brigade, of North Carolina and Georgia troops, concentrated in a glade of rough rocks and gloomy cedars. Both commanders are official Church-members, and never object to preaching even on the outpost. Soon one thousand of our soldiers were grouped about the spot selected for Sabbath morning service. It was a grand sight to behold such a vast assemblage, seated upon the rugged rocks, to listen eagerly to the words of life. … While all listened so attentively, I could be contrast the scene with the bloody charge made by the same men when the gallant General Rains fell upon a spot very similar to our preaching place. The theme of the preacher was: ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,’ and strong were his arguments and earnest his appeals to impress indeliby upon their hearts the truths of his sermon.”

From Chapter XVII, “Spring of 1863”, in William Wallace Bennett, A Narrative of the Great Revival which Prevailed in the Southern Armies, (Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1877), pp. 266-266 (Accessed via Google Books, 2 Mar 2008).