The Wisconsin Parents Association publishes a wonderful newsletter for their homeschooling members, and they recently published a booklet explaining the history of the organization and homeschooling in Wisconsin, titled Kitchen Tables and Marble Halls. The booklet includes this interesting bit about their newsletter:
From the beginning, WPA newsletters have been written for at least four audiences. First are WPA members, other homeschoolers, and WPA’s allies. Second, all 132 members of the Wisconsin Legislature receive a copy of each newsletter. Third, homeschoolers may need or want to share information from newsletters with the media, so articles are written to be as clear as possible should they appear as sound bites or quotes out of context in the media. Fourth, the newsletter is written so it can be shared with the general public, including homeschoolers’ families and friends. Having four diverse audiences means the newsletter is not written as an in-group or club publication. Consciously writing for these four audiences is more demanding, but it also results in more substantive, technically correct publication that stands up over time. One indication of the newsletters’ value is that the Wisconsin Historical Society owns a complete set.
For more information about the Wisconsin Parents Association visit their website.
Helen
mark
david
I subscribe to their newsletter and have a copy of this wonderful booklet. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a booklet that explains the history of all homeschool organizations?
Mary
It would be wonderful indeed, Mary, and I hope if there are other publications out there which describe the histories of local, state, or regional groups, people will share information about them here.
Maybe there are also histories on some of the support group websites? Maybe the American Homeschool Association could begin collecting these kinds of histories? The AHA site does have a section on the history of homeschooling, but it’s primarily national in scope. I think it would be a good idea to make the state and local histories more easily available to people who might be interested in the larger perspective.
A very good and thoughtful friend gave me a subscription to the WPA information because she knew I’d love it. I have learned so much.
I brought along Kitchen Tables and Marble Halls to read on the plane on our recent trip to our nation’s capitol. I now have it earmarked and highlighted. There is so much current and helpful advocacy information to gain from the history of Wisconsin’s WPA. I wish all homeschoolers could read it.
Dorothy Werner shared a wonderful amount of Illinois homeschool information on tape that I know is hoped to be transcribed completely. Much could be gained in learning from the past.
When I was coming back on the airplane last night from DC, I was sitting next to an Indiana Representative. As we talked about our passions; his being politics, of course, and mine being homeschooling, of course, I pulled out the blue booklet and set it on the lap table hoping he’d take the bait. He didn’t, but I sure could have talked his ear off. And I figured he needed a rest from people wanting something out of him. It’d be hard to explain that I didn’t want one darn thing but to be left alone.
So, I just wanted to share that “Kitchen Tables and Marble Halls” has been proudly on tour from Illinois to Washington, DC.