We're Not The Same!

We were challenged, stretched and encouraged this past weekend at the THSC Leadership Conference. The beautiful campgrounds and great food were a perfect setting for the meetings, workshops and open forums. The fellowship was sweet as we met with some great Texas leaders.

It was so exciting to us to hear such great advice from these experienced homeschool group leaders that we wanted to share some of what they said with you here. (Our best advice is for you to make plans to be at next year's THSC Leadership Conference!) Here's just the tip of the iceberg of all the wealth of information we heard during interviews, meetings and workshops:



Doug & Patsy Arnold of Texas' Special Kids--"Don't ask what you can do about the [special needs] child. Ask what you can do for the child, how you can learn from the child, and how you can be blessed by this child."

Becky Ryan of REACH Garden Ridge--"Be as open as possible. Post your minutes. When you're upfront about everything, people trust you more and your decisions."

Arlene Alderman of REACH Garden Ridge--"Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! You can't repeat [your vision] too much."





Donna Harp of THSC Board of Directors--"Do a co-op that includes good citizenship. . . that includes the kids helping to get a gentleman that is homeschool-friendly elected. Then the kids have some ownership of who gets elected."




Paul Mills of THSC Board of Directors and HCCH--"To get men involved in leadership, limit the quantity of meetings they need to attend. Don't expect them to be at the one for choosing the Valentine's banquet decorations. They need to attend the meetings for vision and budgeting and bylaws."




Tonya Knowles of Touchstone Home Educators--"I chose the group's name from one of my favorite books as a child. The meaning of the word touchstone is an excellent example."




Martha Sides (no photo) of REACH Co-op--"As soon as you take a leadership position, begin to look for and mentor your replacement."




Norm Wakefield of Spirit of Elijah Ministries--"Vision provides security and peace. If you don't set the vision for your group, others in the group will."






Tim & Lyndsay Lambert of THSC--"Prepare for growth because it will come. Small groups can become large groups overnight."




As you can see, it was a powerful weekend. We hope to see you next year--we believe you will not leave the same either!

Changed,
Denise & Kristen
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com