The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers believes that all homeschoolers' interests are served when government, news media, and the public see us as a diverse people united in our love of our children and in our valuing freedom to teach and learn at home.
Media Inquiries:
Phone: 866-513-6173
Email: VaHomeschoolers Media Relations
Additional Information for the Media
Homeschoolers Find Support in Group
VaHomeschoolers board member Lois Curling and member Janet Kiss were interviewed for the article,
Homeschoolers Find Support in Group in the Mechanicsville Local. The article focuses on
how local homeschoolers have found support through the statewide organization of VaHomeschoolers
and their local support group, Hanover Homeschoolers.
Letter to the Editor: The Diversity of Home-schoolers
VaHomeschoolers member Laura Randers-Pehrson had a letter to the editor published in response to a Washington
Post article about how homeschoolers had propelled presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's rise in the
Iowa primaries. In her letter, she pointed out the diversity of political beliefs within the
homeschooling community, writing "It would be a refreshing turn, though, to learn more in your
pages about the diversity of positions we home-schoolers take, as many of us work to remove partisan
political agendas from our conversations about educating children."
September's Highlight: Celeste Land, Chair of the Government Affairs Committee for The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
Celeste Land, VaHomeschoolers Board Member and Chair of the VaHomeschoolers Government Affairs Committee
was featured in the September 2007 Issue of the Home Education Magazine Support Group News. Celeste talks
about her work as a VaHomeschoolers lobbyist and provides insight on how the VaHomeschoolers' Government
Affairs Committee works. Read more about how VaHomeschoolers avoids partisan politics, how decisions are
made about legislation (whether proposing our own or supporting or opposing existing legislation), and
how our team of dedicated volunteers monitor legislation, looking for bills that affect homeschoolers.
Community Colleges Invaluable for Home-schoolers
VaHomeschoolers member and volunteer Ann Cameron-Siegal and her daughter Rebecca were featured in an
article in the Community College Times titled "Community Colleges Invaluable for Home-schoolers".
The article focused on how community colleges can be used to supplement a homeschoolers' education
through dual enrollment options as well as a way to develop an "official academic record to help
with admissions into four-year institutions."
Barb Benfante, VaHomeschoolers Board Member, was recently quoted in an article "Adjusting From Home School to Away College" in the Hampton Roads newspaper The Daily Press. The article discussed how homeschoolers experience the transition from home to college. The article is currently available for a fee through the Daily Press archives.
An Interview: Celeste Land and Leila Giles
In this interview with Mary Nix, VaHomeschoolers board member Celeste Land and her daughter Leila Giles discuss
their interest in legislative activities as well as Leila's experiences as a page with the Virginia General
Assembly, her production of a documentary and her creation of the board game "How a Homeschool Bill
Becomes Law."
Helping Homeschoolers: Virginia parents welcome tweaks to laws that make process smoother
VaHomeschoolers' board members Celeste Land and Parrish Mort discuss the the increased popularity of
homeschooling as well as the improvements in the home instruction statute passed in 2006.
Religious Exemptions Rise: Parents citing beliefs as reason for home schooling increases
Featuring VaHomeschoolers' board member Barb Benfante, this article focuses on the increase in the number of
families citing religious reasons for homeschooling and the differing ways local school divisions handle them.