Welcome back to another exciting issue of the Leaders e-Newsletter brought to you by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine! The theme of this month's e-Newsletter is Servant Leadership, and we're packed with encouragement and practical helps just for you. We are so glad you have joined us again this month, and we hope to uplift your spirit and bring you inspiration in your service as a homeschool leader.

Our contributing writers have covered some excellent topics that leaders of today face as they serve others. It is our prayer that this resource will help support and encourage you. May the Lord bless your family and homeschooling community and may He give you many opportunities to do great things for His glory!

Blessings,
Sharra Badgley

Family Ministry
By Barb Vogelgesang

Have you ever thought about the effect your ministry has on your family? I see so many servant leaders struggling to be there for their family and serve in the leadership position they currently hold. Long ago my husband and I decided that God has called us to serve our family as our first ministry. We also knew that we had gifts that God wanted us to share with others. When we were elementary youth group leaders our older children were only 4 and 5. We were always sending them to sitters on the nights we ministered to other people's children. The children were unhappy and so were we. We prayed about how to work this dilemma out. That's when we felt God telling us to do ministry as a family.

Since then we are very careful that the things we volunteer for take into account our entire family. We teach Sunday school once a month and it has become a family ministry. Our older children do the puppet show, and the littler ones help us prepare the snacks or craft materials. We incorporate all of us into presenting the lesson. Instead of having little ones who are sad because they can't spend some time with Mom and Dad, we have a whole family who is excited to spread the Good News.

How does this apply to you as a homeschool support group leader? How can you build your family while serving? Look for ways your family can serve together. Can your family make the snack for the meeting as a project (just make sure there is some to leave at home)? Perhaps there is something your older children can teach to the younger ones in the co-op. Maybe the setting up and cleaning up could be something you do as a family. We've had great times blasting praise music while we all put together a mailing.

I was responsible for putting together a poetry workshop for our homeschool co-op recently. I asked my older children to come up with some rhyming games for the younger children. I challenged them to find a way to pass on an appreciation for poetry to their young students. They came to me with their plans, employed their younger siblings to help make the props, and practiced in our living room. When the date for our workshop arrived, I felt confident that my 12- and 13-year-olds could present their lesson while I taught the middle and senior high students. When the day was over, they were tired but felt so great about what they had done. I received rave reviews from parents who attended. My children are looking forward to the next time we are responsible for the co-op lesson.

Everyone in leadership needs to be covered in prayer. Enlist your family as your prayer team. Give them your prayer requests. Ask a computer-savvy child to make up a prayer calendar for your support group. Be sure you let them know when and how prayers are being answered. They will grow in their ability to speak to the Lord and recognize their responsibility to pray intercessory prayers. It will also teach your children to see God's provision and to look for Him in their lives.

Each time you include your children in your ministry responsibilities, you are equipping them to serve. Teach your children to become servants by allowing them to serve beside you. Let them spread their leadership wings in the safety of your presence. The world is in dire need of servant leaders, leaders who follow God's call. Your children are the next generation of leaders - let's prepare them now.

You can get to know Barb Vogelgesang and her family better by reading the Winter issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (look for a bunch of clowns). Barb and her family love serving the Lord together, whether it's teaching poetry, speaking at conferences, or clowning around. She's a mom to four creative kids, ages 13 to 3, and happily married to her husband for 18 years. She loves writing and speaking to families about ways to grow closer to each other and to our Lord. Visit her blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/joyousheart.

It should be PRAYER, prioritizing, and then planning. It is extremely easy to get caught up in the plan and forget about WHY you are planning. As leaders, we have so much to do; our lives are so full, and it seems we, at least I, need to continually re-evaluate the "stuff" I get involved with.

Psalm 31:4 says, "Thou wilt pull me out of the net which they secretly laid for me"; and the "they" sometimes is me! And yet God is so gracious to pull me out and be my strength. As leaders we need to be in prayer about everything, in all that we do. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart and LEAN NOT on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge HIM, and HE shall direct your paths" [emphasis added].

Then the Bible admonishes us, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil." Proverbs 3:7 states, "Fearing the Lord is trusting Him; Leaning on Him to direct our paths; waiting on Him …" and that alone could be a key to our troubles; however, the waiting is not conducive to our lifestyles, is it? It takes discipline, self denial, and patience. Fearing God is knowing God, knowing His attributes and His ways, as spoken of in Psalm 145:17: "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works." And we know God by studying His Word, devoting our minds to His Word.

We prepare our hearts by worship, through song, creative displays like drawing, art, and so forth. We know God through prayer when we meet Him and demonstrate the ability to communicate with words to the Almighty - the God who created everything with a Word. Interestingly, He spoke into existence all that we know, and we are able to talk to Him - GOD! As a matter of fact, He desires to have fellowship with us mere human beings. Wow! "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" (Psalm 145:18).

Prayer is an interesting phenomenon. We pray for stuff, because of stuff, to change stuff, and yet God knows already the outcome. However, He still wants us to pray, not just for the sake of some ritual to adhere to in order to find favor with God. No, I don't think He works like that, do you? Okay, maybe it is for God's glory and maybe to bring us "full circle" as a matter of changing our hearts and our thinking. Maybe it is for coming into line with His Will. Hmmm & maybe it is for us to come into a realization of who God is and to realize that surrender is the safest place to be. Complete surrender to His will.

Andrew Murray said, "To lose sight of self and seek ONLY God's glory is Holiness." Holiness is surrender - absolute surrender. It is not how we act, or that we are sinless, but that we are completely and fully given over to our Savior. That His will is our life's purpose. The thought of meeting Him someday motivates us and empowers us to press on. Is this a one-time event? I think not; it is ongoing until death leads us into our "real" life: life eternal. This life of flesh is but a moment, and eternity is forever. Should not our efforts be there?

Let us remember "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all" (I Chronicles 29:11).
 
Give Him your day and your plans and be ready for an amazing ride!

Cathie Parrish is a co-leader of a support group in central California and excited to share inspiration from the Word with other leaders. You may reach Cathie at 2timothy2@sbcglobal.net.

In Whom Do You Confide?
By Trisha McQuarrie

Leaders have a special challenge when facing organizational difficulties. When personal hardships strike, these can often be shared with close friends who comfort and advise. However, many group conflicts must often remain private so as not to affect group morale. So in whom should you confide for help?

Recently my husband and I faced some struggles with the co-ed homeschool basketball teams we coach. We had a time of challenges on many fronts: 
Facility scheduling issues
Players with scheduling conflicts with another popular homeschool program
Parents demonstrating poor sportsmanship at our competitions
Modesty concerns
Excessive focus on winning by players and parents

These issues even came between my husband and me. We found that we were spreading ourselves too thin and operating "in the flesh" when trying to find suitable solutions. At times we felt as though we would burst if we did not vent our frustrations out loud.

Most often there will be families involved in your organization who will share your concerns. It will be difficult not to engage in gossip when seeking solutions. That is why PRAYER is your number one defense.

Prayer gives us something that no friend can give - God's perspective. While a friend can point to God, prayer can give you sustenance FROM God. Once you have HIS perspective, it’s easier to move forward toward a solution. Do NOT make ANY decisions based only on emotions. Instead, pray until you feel a release from your emotional state and are therefore free to begin problem solving.

After prayer, your trusted godly friend can come in handy. Once you have God's perspective, you can have your friend brainstorm with you for solutions to your leadership challenges. What a treasure indeed is a friend who will put aside the desire to hear about all the "players" involved and will instead share from her own experience. I have a special friend with whom I can strategize, and I cherish our friendship. We are united in our desire to avoid gossip and to work out solutions. We have leadership experiences that bless one another. A trusted advisor of this caliber can ease the mental load that often comes with leadership.

Lastly, I would like to share a warning about venting. If you give in to the temptation to pick up the phone and "vent" to a friend, you may start a chain reaction that will hinder all your future leadership actions. Homeschool communities are generally tight-knit groups. Word spreads quickly even when said "in confidence." It is so important to address issues directly and decisively without having comments hastily spoken in frustration getting out beforehand. Your decisions will most likely be received with respect if you follow these guidelines.

Focusing Your Mission Statement
By Carol Topp, CPA

Mission statements are a concise way to state your organization's purpose. They help focus and clarify the goal of your organization.
Mission statements should do two things:

• Tell others who you are.
• Remind you of what your focus should be both now and in the future.

WHO and WHAT, But Not HOW

A mission statement answers two questions:

WHO are you? Are you defined geographically, by religious affiliation, by age of students, by skills or styles, or by curriculum choice? Who is your target audience? Parents, kids, athletic students, musical students, high school students? etc.

WHY do you exist? Is it to encourage parents, support students, offer information, offer opportunities, promote homeschooling, influence legislation?

A mission statement does not answer the HOW question (How do you accomplish your purpose?). The HOW question would be a description of your activities, such as hold classes, run a sports program, or organize field trips. The description of your activities should be in another statement called a Program Statement.

Tips for Writing a Mission Statement

• Use words such as try, seek, influence, or encourage.
• Keep your mission statement short, ideally one sentence or about 50 words.
• Be accurate. Do not make your purpose unattainable or sound loftier than you can accomplish. Your organization cannot be all things to all people.
• Put your mission statement everywhere. Put it on letterhead, posters, and on a sign at every board meeting.

Sample Mission Statements

The purpose of this organization shall be to provide support, information, and encouragement to homeschooling families.

This organization serves to teach and disseminate educational materials for the public and to help parents of homeschooled children fulfill educational requirements.

The mission of the HS Co-op is to provide affordable, quality, fun-filled academic classes to children in the homeschool community.

We exist to encourage, support, and build up a community of Christian homeschool families.

Carol Topp, CPA, is a homeschooling mother of two daughters. She serves as treasurer for her homeschool co-op. She enjoys sharing her accounting skills and experience with nonprofit organizations, especially homeschooling organizations. She and her family live in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Trail Blazers and Mentors
By Kim Wolf

1 Corinthians 1:1-2 - "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you."

Have you ever stopped to take the time to thank the person(s) who first educated you on the subject of homeschooling?

Where would we, and our families, be without them and the concern they showed us by taking the time to explain this godly plan of education?

Think of all the things you would have missed in your children's lives. Wasn't it wonderful to watch that light come on in their eyes when they finally realized that the numeral 3 represented three things? Wasn't it great when she was so inspired by a book that she sat down and wrote a story of fiction herself? Wasn't it incredible when he found that cicada shell on the tree, got out his magnifying glass, and really got excited about pointing out that he knew where the head, thorax, and abdomen were without being asked? Wasn't it exciting when your family went to the beach for the first time and your kids couldn't collect enough seashells because they realized that God made each and every one of them and that there were no two alike? Oh, the things we would have missed if not for those faithful friends who told us that our kids could stay home for school!

Think of the relationship you have with each child that you would not have if they were to spend 6-8 hours away from you each day. Aren't you grateful that you could instill your values and the teachings of Scripture in them instead of "de-programming" them every night from being with their peers all day? Or that they are not "between the rock and the hard place" of having to "divide allegiances"? By that I mean that they don't have to be seduced by the pressure of believing the "cool" Humanities teacher or the smug, atheistic biology teacher vs. Mom, Dad, and the Bible. Think of the heartache, and possible harassment, they have been spared so that they can be nurtured in the Truth of the Gospel and taught to defend their faith. By the time they complete their home education, by God's grace, they will be mature and secure enough in their faith that they can defend themselves against those who would question their beliefs. Thanks to God’s faithfulness and those dear friends who told us about homeschooling, you and I have had the opportunity to instruct our children "in the way they should go" (Prov. 22:6 & Deut. 6:4-9).

Titus 2:7 says, "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about you." Now it's your turn. If you have a year or more of homeschooling under your belt, then welcome to the Example Club! Just as those who blazed the trails ahead of us, just as those who lovingly mentored us, just as those who set that godly example for us to follow ... let us not miss the chance to encourage a nervous mom full of questions, hopes, and dreams. Don't be afraid to be used by God. Thank the dear ones whom God used to get you on the road to homeschooling and don't be afraid for Him to use you in the same way.

(P.S. Thanks, Sono and Gregg!)

Kim Wolf loves living in a small Ohio town with her husband of 21 years and their two teen daughters. They have homeschooled since 1993 and are very active in the music ministry of their church, particularly in the praise team and the audio/video team. She is a Miami County homeschool coordinator and loves getting new homeschool families started on their journey. Kim is also a speaker and freelance writer; plus a contributing writer, product reviewer, and Ohio coordinator for TOS. Visit her blog: www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/Buckeyeblog.

The Blessing of Serving as a Homeschool Leader
By Teri Berg Olsen

As a homeschool leader do you sometimes wonder if your efforts are appreciated, or if the time and energy you spend helping other people is worth it? Serving as a homeschool leader means that we have a multitude of extra tasks added to an already full plate of managing our households and educating our children. Nevertheless, being a good leader requires a sincere commitment to assist others regardless of our personal situation. I can recall many times when I've put the needs of the homeschool group before something of my own that I wanted to get done. However, I do believe that's what true leadership is all about. While this type of servant leadership is a huge responsibility, it can also be a blessing. By stepping outside the shadow of our selves, we may see a bright light that we otherwise would have missed.

For example, as a support group leader my life has been enriched by getting to know more of the members than I normally would. They have become like an extended family to me. I am humbled to have the opportunity to "walk in other people's shoes" as they share their problems, frustrations, and emotions. Observing how their faith and passionate prayer life accompany challenges has been especially uplifting and has greatly strengthened my own faith. As leaders we all want to do good, to effect positive change, to help others. And yet whenever I feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that I have made a difference in somebody's life, I am reminded not to get caught up in my own significance. This is because whatever significance we have does not come from the position we hold. God is the one who calls us to be leaders, and He is the one who equips us with what is necessary to fulfill that which He called us to do.

An important role of leaders is connecting with and caring for other people despite what issues we are facing in our own lives. And yet by doing so, we may receive special blessings in return. When I was confronted with some trying experiences this past year, the group members were always there to rally behind me and back me up. Amazingly, the year culminated with a miraculous ending reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life, a perennial holiday favorite of our family. This movie tells the story of George Bailey, a man who constantly places the needs of others before his own and sacrifices his dreams to help his hometown. Suddenly on the verge of personal and financial ruin through no fault of his own, he finds the entire town pitching in to save his building and loan business. This year as we watched the movie, we were undergoing a similar situation. My husband had lost his job several months before, the fourth time he's been out of work in the last four years. Consequently, I was able to identify with George's overwhelming feelings of frustration, anguish, and failure.

I was particularly touched by the part of the movie when all of the townspeople that George has helped over the years come forward to assist him in his time of need. It made me wonder if in real life it would be possible for an ordinary person to be blessed with so many generous, loving friends like that. Well, this Christmas I discovered the answer to my question. On Christmas Eve, one of the local homeschool families stopped by our house to give us an envelope. It looked like a Christmas card, but it was quite thick. My husband and I opened it up, and it was full of cash. We counted, and counted, and counted. It added up to over $1,000! The card was signed by members of the homeschool group with comments such as:

"Thank you for being such tireless servants of God."
 "Thank you so much for all you do to bless the homeschooling community."
"Your articles and website has blessed our family."

Needless to say, my husband and I were astonished, amazed, and surprised! I think that this unexpected Christmas gift was ultimate proof that as homeschool support group leaders assisting others, our members also bless and support us.

Teri Ann Berg Olsen is a home educator, librarian, and author of Learning for Life: Educational Words of Wisdom. An AFHE member since 1995, she and her husband have always homeschooled their children. In addition to serving as resource coordinator for the Knowledge House Learning Resource Center, Teri is the leader of Desert Hills Christian Homeschoolers and Arizona State Coordinator for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Visit her blog: www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/Arizona and website: www.knowledgehouse.info/.

By Kris Price, HSN Manager

Hello, everyone! It's been a busy month since my last update on Homeschool Nation. Many people have joined our team as state coordinators or contributors, and we are so appreciative of those people who are willing to volunteer a bit of their time each week to keep their state up-to-date on the latest news and happenings in their area of the country. We also now have three coordinators in Canada and are looking to have at least one per province. So, if you are Canadian or know a Canadian who could be an asset to Homeschool Nation, please send him or her my way!

As of 2/4/06, these states still need coordinators: Connecticut, Hawaii (Maui and Kauai), Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

We also still need coordinators in Canada and areas of the UK (see the list here in the sidebar: www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/HSN) and we would like to open up a blog for Australia and New Zealand. So if you can help us out in any way, please let me know! These are volunteer positions, but you get a free subscription to the magazine and you get magazines and informational brochures to pass out to support groups in your area. It's a great way to help new homeschoolers or those thinking of homeschooling.

Because you all know how important it is to support people, please visit your state blog - links are available here: www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/HSN - and leave a comment letting your coordinator know how much you appreciate her volunteering her time to maintain a state blog. I know that it would mean a lot to her!

The Secrets of Successful Homeschooling: You Have What It Takes to Homeschool!
By Sharra Badgley

Whether you are a veteran or brand new homeschool family, this e-Book is for you. It contains a plethora of articles written by experienced homeschool authors such as Christine Field, Lorrie Flem, Terri Camp, Cindy Rushton, and many more. They will encourage you and provide a refreshing overview of the nuts and bolts of homeschooling.

Each chapter is filled with practical "how-to" information, inspiration, and resourceful links to benefit homeschool studies. Here is a brief listing of a few of the topics that are covered:

• Questions about homeschooling
• Single parents and homeschooling
• Organizing the homeschool
• Special needs
• Math, reading, and other helps
• Frugal homeschooling
• Home business and homeschooling
• Plus much more!

As a consultant to new homeschool families, I look forward to sharing this resource, which will help get their homeschooling adventure off to a good start. This valuable e-Book will help instill confidence in parents as they take up the mantle of their God-given roles to educate their children.

After you read this new e-Book, please send along your testimony of how you enjoyed this so that we can feature it in an upcoming edition of Leaders e-News.

Blessings,
Sharra Badgley
Editor, Leaders e-Newsletter
Leaders@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
Visit me at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/ServantLeadership and www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/SBadgley

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