Your Questions are So Good

On our site Homeschool Group Leader, we have been amazed at the great questions you've been asking us. Each question is important to us. You are important to us.

We have prayed for you this morning. We prayed that you would have wisdom and that the Lord would strengthen you and encourage your heart to do this great task He's given you.

One of the most common Biggest Questions has been how to get your families more involved in your group. It can be so frustrating to have no one volunteer to help or even show up for an event that you've poured your heart and time into. We've been there.

Once, Denise scheduled a field trip to an alligator farm in our area. She thought it was the perfect summertime field trip and had even gotten feedback that people wanted to go. The day came for the trip and only two families out of 50 showed up! Denise was a little discouraged.

But she learned from it.

• She listened to why people didn't show: the heat, the mosquitoes, and summertime vacations. So from then on, she only scheduled early summer field trips that were indoors.
  
  
• She determined that summer field trips just didn't work as well for our group--attendance was low for all our summer activities down here in the Texas heat.
  
  
• She chose not to take it personally and began to design the field trips to fit the flow of the group. During the rest of the summer, she would simply pass out info on field trips that the families could do on their own. We completely took August off, with field trips as a group picking back up in September.

This worked really well for our group to encourage involvement. Your group may have a totally different dynamic and climate than ours, but people are the same everywhere. People need to be heard, understood and appreciated. One way you can easily do this and increase participation is to listen well and act on what you hear your families saying. It's a way of serving them, of meeting their needs and appreciating them.

We hope that in sharing our experience, you will be able to better understand and serve your own group. We will be sharing even more experiences in our coming ebook that will guide you as you lead your group to success.

Praying for you,
Kristen and Denise
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

Leadership Conference in Dallas

We just heard about this conference for leaders in Dallas, Texas this weekend and wanted to tell you about it. The speaker line-up is so great that we've requested all the CDs. Check it out.

http://www.heartoftex.org/conference/conference.html

If you hear of any leadership conferences in your area, please let us know and we'll help get the word out.

Later!
Denise & Kristen
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

Subway Listened to Homeschoolers!

Here's a great opportunity! Subway has revamped and reintroduced their "Every Sandwich Tells a Story" contest to include homeschoolers. It is now the "Summer Special" that is running until August 31st.

Jim Bob Howard of "Homeschooling Today" magazine wrote, "For all those who clamored about Subway excluding homeschoolers, now's the time to show them that we will indeed participate when they include us. The registration form I saw asks for the Child's School Name, so homeschoolers should make sure they enter something like *Smith Family Homeschool*, rather than *Smith Academy*."

See the details here: SUBWAY STORY CONTEST

Let your families know about this great educational opportunity and the chance to win really great prizes. Grab your pens, write with imagination and share some laughs!

Have a great day,

Denise & Kristen

www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

Be Positive!

"He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends." Proverb 17:9 (NIV)

If you speak well of everyone, you will be promoting love and kindness in your group. But if you break confidences or share offenses or problems, there can be dire consequences. Walls can build between friends and the group can begin to be damaged or even to splinter. Gossip can take root and choke out the hope of a cooperative spirit within your group.

A good leader protects the developing friendships within the group; protects the reputations of each member, speaking well of them at every opportunity; and redirects negative conversation with well-placed compliments.

Always focus on the best in others. Everyone has faults and makes mistakes. Your graciousness will be a shining light that will empower others to follow your example in building each other up.

Lifting you up!
Denise & Kristen
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

Running Toward Conflict

Conflict does not need to paralyze you or your group.

There are some powerful techniques available to guide you safely over the hurdles of misunderstanding, differences, gossip, and unmet expectations that can face your group.

Peacemaker Ministries offers several resources that can help leaders, families and churches guide people through conflict. These principles are so simple and practical that they can be adapted easily for homeschool group leadership.

We highly recommend leaders to read through their web site. It is loaded with articles full of wisdom, experience and peace. We truly believe you will find their materials life-changing--for your group and for your family. We have personally been inspired by what we've read. We have been inspired to face conflict head on in confidence and in love. We at Homeschool Group Leader have been especially affected by the PAUSE Principle and the Seven A's of Confession.

Let us know your positive tips on conflict resolution and on how http://www.peacemaker.net/ has blessed you.

Running the race with you,

Denise and Kristen

www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

How It All Got Started. . .

We are idea people and we wanted to do something creative, fun and helpful. And we wanted to stay home to do it.

You wouldn't believe the crazy ideas that crossed our minds! But we also knew that with homeschooling and raising our families, we couldn't do most of them.

Since we are good friends who complement each other well, we knew that we wanted to work and write together. So, in October of 2007, after a lot of prayer and planning and discussing with our husbands, we signed up for an e-course by Stephen Beck on how to write an e-book.

We learned so much, so fast! In just eight short weeks, we learned how to blog, publish articles on the internet, research our niche, conduct teleseminars, add affliates, and design a website from scratch.

Beck's video tutorials also made it possible for us to easily navigate complicated software programs that were needed to launch Homeschool Group Leader and then begin writing and eventually publishing our e-book.

We've conquered fears and we've made mistakes. We've overcome obstacles and we've begun to trust even more the direction God wants us to go. We know that Homeschool Group Leader needs to reflect who we are, what we've learned and what we can learn from other leaders. It has become a ministry.

We wish that we would have had a resource like HGLeader when we began serving as group leaders. During those serving years, we discovered that leaders often feel alone, inadequate and empty. We knew this site needed to connect leaders and let them know they've got support; got resources to help them do their job well; and encourage them that they are totally adequate in Christ.

We have a lot of fun getting together each week to provide you new materials, answer your questions, write articles and learn the internet ropes. The challenges are exciting, and we believe all the work will be worth it when it ministers to your heart.

Many blessings,
Denise and Kristen
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com

If I Were a Suitcase, Where Would I Be?

Our eyes scanned the sides of the interstate searching desperately for any sign of the green suitcase. . .

Just an hour before, we had been feverishly working on an article for Homeschool Group Leader when a friend drove up in the driveway, frustrated, tired and needing help. They had lost their suitcase along the interstate when it had blown off the top of their mini-van. Without thinking, we jumped into Denise's car and zoomed to the rescue. What should have taken a few minutes, turned into over an hour of looping around and around under overpasses and scouring feeder roads for the elusive case.

Have you had days like this? We never did finish that article. . .

Sometimes things won't go as you've planned them. Don't beat yourself up when things don't go perfectly. When there are interruptions and unexpected detours, be flexible and available and enjoy the ride. The immediate can be as important as your to-do list. Instead of stressing about what's not getting done, laugh as we did, saying out loud, "If I were a suitcase, where would I be?"

Going with the flow,
Denise & Kristen
www.homeschoolgroupleader.com