Notes to You
Notes to Area Families…
- LHSL 2008-09 Year in Review, July 11, 2009
- I Have a Dream, July 16, 2009
- Flesh on Bones, Wagon Wheels Making Roads, July 25, 2009
- Dreams, Bones and Wagon Wheels… Where Do You Fit In?, August 3, 2009
- LHSL Contact Form
July 11, 2009
A message from LHSL Founder and President, Deb McPherson:
LHSL 2008-09 Year in Review
LHSL completed it’s first full year of events, bringing the entire Lynchburg area homeschool community together.
The initial event was the Science Fair Kick-off Informational Meeting in October ‘08, hosted by Timberlake Baptist Church. The Science Fair was held at the end of February ‘09 at the old Thomas Road Baptist Church campus. The grand prize winner, Mark Jones, won an iPod!!
The Election Night event, held on Election Night in November ‘08, saw approximately 150 gathered. Children of all ages enjoyed a variety of activities and entertainments, learning how to be active citizens and good stewards of our freedoms. This was hosted by Under the Son Academy at Living Word Baptist Church.
The Liberty University Homeschool Tennis Clinic came under the LHSL umbrella this year and has a good support base for future clinics. This was held in April ‘09 at The Sports Racket, with court time being donated as the courts for the Liberty University Flames Tennis Team were being rebuilt.
The year ended with the 1st Annual Central Virginia Homeschool Graduation, a beautiful graduation ceremony, celebrating the accomplishments of 11 homeschooling families in completing their 12 years of ‘at home’ education. Teens and their families also came together throughout the 2008-09 year on a monthly basis for a variety of Teen and Family Fellowship opportunities that were organized by the LHSL Graduation Committee and hosted by local homeschool families.
Throughout the year, communication was facilitated by this website and by Lynchburg Area News & Information for Christian Home Educator’s LA NICHE Yahoo! Group, started 3 years ago by Laura Young. This communication aspect now includes venues on the Homeschool Lounge, Twitter, Facebook and LA NICHE Blog.
I want to thank each of you involved in these events for all the time and effort that you have given, to make homeschooling a little easier and more fun for the entire community!!
Science Fair Committee: Tricia Kruse, Christy Sattler, Sue Jones, Sandy Bowen, Shannon Carroll, Lori Gassler
Election Night Committee: Linda Hodge, Lenaya Smith
Tennis Committee: Mary Frazier, Maria Brown, Beth Reeves, Julie Thomas, Laura Young
Graduation & Teen Activities Committee: Laura House, Sue Jones
LA NICHE: Kat Crosier, Rebecca Riggins, Laura Young
LHSL: Robert and Lisa Derke, Kat Crosier, Christy Sattler, Laura Young
Home Works: Robert and Lisa Derke, Britain and Michelle Crooker, Christy Sattler, Laura Young
May God bless you this summer, as you rest and prepare for next year!
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for further announcements about events and developments and a name change for LHSL!!
In His Service,
Deb McPherson
President, Lynchburg Home School Leaders
July 16, 2009
A message from LHSL Founder and President, Deb McPherson:
I Have a Dream
In the early morning hours of April 2007, I awoke from a dream. But it wasn’t a dream, it was real, vivid, unusual. I woke my husband to tell him what I had just seen. “Was this just a dream?”, I wondered, “or a vision from God?”
Over the next months, I prayed this vision, this idea, back to God. it was huge, impossible, not something that I could ever imagine, or begin to make happen.
After some time, I decided to share the vision with a few people. They affirmed the vision, and surprised me with knowledge of other homeschool organizations similar to what I had seen. Over the next months, a few more people were told, with similar responses. This idea was finding favor in the eyes of God’s people.
The way forward began with contacting all the leaders of the homeschool co-ops in our area. I held an initial meeting in Nov. 2007, then again in Jan 2008. In April 2008, during the Liberty University Homeschool Tennis Clinic, the leaders decided on several events for the following year: Science Fair, Election Night activities, and a Graduation ceremony. We were finally moving ahead, one year after the dream!
This is what I saw . . . .
ALL homeschoolers in this area, working together. A large, old building downtown, large beams, brick walls, our own library, gym, soccer and baseball fields, stage and auditorium, classrooms of all kinds, filled with equipment. It was a ‘home away from home’. Rooms for parties, shops; every co-op able to use the facility, as well as individual families.
The building would be the first totally ‘green’ building in Lynchburg, a part of the Downtown Revitalization project.
Homeschoolers will be leading the way and contributing vitally to our community!
On the side of this building I saw the words –
HOME WORKS
On Sept. 8, 2008, I registered the name “Home Works Lynchburg” at the City Registrar’s office and obtained a business license.
The Vision is Birthed!!
Habakkuk 2:1-3
1 I will stand on my guard post
And station myself on the rampart;
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.
2 Then the LORD answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
– from New American Standard Bible
In His Service,
Deb McPherson
President, Home Works Lynchburg
July 25, 2009
A message from LHSL Founder and President, Deb McPherson:
Flesh on Bones, Wagon Wheels Making Roads…
Based on a dream, filling out the bones in real time, Home Works has come of age this last year. With a group of individuals committed to working toward a more cohesive homeschool community, flesh was put to bones.
In my dream, I saw the end result, but was not sure of how to get there. The path ahead remains shrouded in unknowns, but we have put the wagon wheels in motion and have forged ahead. Looking back over the past year, we have seen a successful Science Fair, Election Night, Tennis Clinic, and Graduation. That is our path traveled. It points ahead to this coming year, and paves the way for those who follow.
This group of like-minded individuals was called the Lynchburg Home School Leaders (LHSL), because that was where I started. It has never just included leaders of support groups. Individuals who were not a part of any groups came to join us. But the Leaders were there, too.
As a part of the process of making roads, the path must be widened. The Lord spoke to Habakkuk in Chapter 2 about writing down the vision in stone. This summer, that’s what we are doing. Writing it all down for you. To See. To Read. To Join.
LHSL is being re-named, to reflect what we really do. It was birthed because of the Home Works Vision, and now will be called Home Works Plan-It! It’s not who we are; it’s about the road that we are traveling, what we do. We are planning. For Central Virginia. For you. We are you.
The next meeting of Home Works Plan-It! will be on Monday, August 17th at 1pm at the White Hart Café in Lynchburg. You are invited to attend. We will be working on all the events for the coming year. If you are interested in being a part of this flesh-on-bones, wagon wheels-making-roads process, come.
In His Service,
Deb McPherson
President, Home Works Lynchburg
August 3, 2009
A message from LHSL Founder and President, Deb McPherson:
Dreams, Bones and Wagon Wheels…
Where Do You Fit In?
Over these last few weeks, I have sketched out for you an incredible dream, given by God, the bare bones ideas being fleshed out, and the paths of events and people taken over the last year.
When I had this dream, I had never even heard of a ‘homeschool building’. We have found them in Michigan and Texas, there is one being initiated in Virginia Beach! This is not an unknown, but a very real possibility.
But more important than the physical facility is the community we are building, developing life-long friendships, as parents together and our children with each other. The relationships our children establish now, will carry them through their lives.
Home Education is growing by about 15% every year in Virginia. But our political future is not certain. The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (if passed) may severely compromise our liberties. We need to appreciate and utilize what we now have, and work toward making that secure for our children.
Timeline, from Then ’til Now…
April ‘07 – Home Works, the dream
Nov ‘07 – First meeting of area leaders
April ‘08 — Lynchburg Home School Leaders (LHSL) began
Sept ‘08 — Home Works Lynchburg, an official organization
Summer ‘09 – Intro of Home Works to community
Change name of LHSL to Home Works Plan-It!
What It Boils Down To…
Home Works doesn’t exist without you. We need each of you to be involved where you are interested. Your passions, your dreams, your loves. Nothing will be accomplished without working together.
I have a son that will be graduating this year. I will be very involved in the Graduation. Come be involved where you are withyour kids. Get to know your community. We have an important Election this year – get involved! If everyone takes a small piece, then none of us will be overwhelmed.
Please come to our next meeting Monday, August 17th at 1pm at the White Hart Café in Lynchburg. Bring your friends – those you are already walking with in the community. You will enjoy the White Hart Café (delicious food and drinks) and get a chance to meet others who are wanting to know more. There is no commitment required. Ask the Lord if this is a place where He wants you to serve.
I am sitting in Burbank, California as I write. I will be driving back across the country with my 3 children, arriving home on the August 15th, to be back in time for our August 17th meeting. We are visiting the Sequoias and Yosemite this week. We all have wonderful opportunities for educating our children — let’s make use of what we have in Lynchburg!
In His Service,
Deb McPherson
President, Home Works Lynchburg
Contact Deb McPherson, President, LHSL & Home Works Lynchburg
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COMMON VISION • COLLECTIVE EFFORTS • COMMUNITY EVENTS
If you have a VISION for our homeschool community and would like to SERVE through LHSL or VOLUNTEER for Community-wide Events, LHSL hopes you will join them as they participate in “God’s work among home educators in the Lynchburg area.”
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