Fifteen years ago the American Homeschool Association was created for the sole purpose of advocating, supporting, and promoting homeschooling. In the years since 1995 the organization has lent its voice to many issues of importance to homeschooling families, and the discussion groups and blogs the AHA supports have generated conversation, networking, and alliances amongst homeschoolers.
The AHA has maintained an informative website with dozens of articles, interviews, resources, and other features, and many families just looking into homeschooling have had their first questions answered by the AHA's FAQ or by a friendly homeschooler in an AHA discussion group.
The AHA has proven its worth many times over, and now, as we head toward the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the founders and the Board of Advisors of the AHA are seeing a need for the organization to take a more active involvement in the homeschooling movement, and to provide a more visible and accessible presence.
In the March-April, 1997 issue of this magazine, Larry and Susan Kaseman wrote in their Taking Charge column, in a piece they titled "Communicating the Strengths of Homeschooling":
"As homeschoolers, we understand certain basic and fundamental information that many non-homeschoolers do not really know. It is important for us to keep alive what we know about children, families, and learning, and to share it with others whenever possible. It sometimes feels like we have been entrusted with some critically important insights that are in danger of being stamped out by the pace, values, and technology our society is choosing. We know, for example, that parents can do more for children than professionals and institutions can. We know that learning is a natural activity that people are good at when they have the support and security they need. We have many other insights which are important even though not all homeschoolers might agree about all of them. We hold these insights like lighted candles in our hands, trying to prevent them from being put out and, when asked, trying to use them to light other candles."
Our goal for the American Homeschool Association is to be a beacon of homeschooling light, advocating, supporting, and promoting homeschooling, but also advocating, supporting and promoting a common-sense approach to living and learning with children - all children - no matter where their learning takes place. We invite you to join us at http://www.americanhomeschoolassociation.org
© 2009, Helen Hegener
