Update on Torah Home Education Conference 5776/2016

yaelinIN

Fri, Oct 23 2015, 10:55 am

Hello dear Jewish homeschoolers!

It has been a while since I have posted a missive to the entire (as we know it) community, on YahooGroups, Imamother, and Facebook.

Thank G-d, we have moved (again - that is 17 moves in 19 years) to Boston, spent a beautiful Pesach (Passover) in Israel and the summer in Tokyo. My oldest son, Gavriel Tzvi, now 14 years old and in 9th grade, has entered Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael in Boston, where he is enjoying the new friends and different educational opportunities. Our other three children are still at home with me. My husband is teaching at Northeastern University. My sister, thank G-d, is doing very well, bli ayin hara, due to her hard-working team of physicians and to your good thoughts and prayers. The two largest tumors in her brain have either disappeared completely or are rapidly shrinking and the other tumors in her body are not growing after several months of new medications. She is in good spirits and able to drive, volunteer, and enjoy life. Please continue davening for Nicole Monique bas Chava.

I have been ruminating on where the (Orthodox) Jewish Homeschooling community is going, both in numbers and in direction. The numbers are increasing. People still join all the groups of which I am a member at a regular pace, interested in investigating homeschooling as a lifestyle or actively learning with their children. I am constantly told of this or that family who homeschools wherever I am and I don't know them from any of the support networks we have in place. Jewish Action, the OU's magazine, even had a several page spread about home education in the Orthodox world! So while homeschooling is still not and probably won't ever be mainstream, it is getting positive attention.

However, none of the current groups of homeschoolers are thrumming with constant conversation, support and exchanges as they were in earlier years. From 2012 to 2014, JOH (Jewish, Orthodox, and Homeschooling on YahooGroups), averaged between 180-230 messages a month. This year (2015) the average is usually around 60 posts a month. The webinars that Yehudis Eagle and Robin Alberg have been producing have had wild swings in attendance as well. With each of the support groups growing, this constitutes a large difference and I don't have one answer as to what is occurring. Perhaps it is that people are finding more inspiration in the general homeschooling community (although I am an active reader on one of the largest general homeschooling fora and I recognize no additional Orthodox Jews joining in the last couple of years). Perhaps it is because the Orthodox Jewish homeschooling is skewing towards parents of younger children who are (possibly) thinking about formally homeschooling sometime in the future. Perhaps it is the internet is moving away from wordy, threaded support groups and blogs and onto Twitter, Instagram and the like. I'm not sure, but I would love for you to join the conversation and maybe we can figure out what is a good way to give continuing support to those actively homeschooling as well as nurturing potential homeschoolers.

I write mainly to let everyone know I am interested in coordinating another Jewish Homeschooling/Torah Home Education conference for 5776/2016. I'm not sure of the date, place, who will speak, or if there will be vendors. That's what I need from each of you. I encourage each of you, both actively homeschooling and potentially homeschooling, to think about if you want a conference and if so, how do you envision it? Then bring your thoughts, dreams, and energy to a phone conference call on Sunday, November 1 at 9pm EST. There we will gauge interest in this year's conference, brainstorm, and create a framework for success with your active support. If you cannot attend, please send me a note (aldrich613@hotmail.com) detailing your ideas and any support you are willing to offer. I look forward to fruitful dialogue and an amazing crew of volunteers after the meeting.

Please join the conversation (note this is a phone conference, no video, no computer needed):
Sunday, November 1, 2015
9pm Eastern Standard Time
Conference Dial-in: 1-712-432-3066
Conference Code to access the call: 778715

Let's continue to create a strong and supportive community together!
Yael Aldrich