 Interested in joining the group? New to Homeschooling? Drop me (Deb) a line at: Deb@vhhomeschool.com
for help and information. Food Banks & Community Services | veteran of homeschool support.
My original partner (co-founder) Vickie and I used to joke that we were: "Two fat women on a mission from God." (Blues Brothers ref.) So we are not an "organization" but simply a ministry initiated by God in the hearts of two homeschooling moms operated from my living room on prayer and intestinal fortitude. Vickie has long since moved on to other ministries, and my kids are all grown, my parents are gone - but God continues to provide the help I need to keep on keeping on. When we started, we felt that God was calling us to
support homeschoolers in ways that the average group does not -- based
on the example of the Christian church Paul describes in the Bible. A
group of Christian, (and even some non-Christian women) who love and
support one another, pool resources, and pray in earnest for one
another. When God calls someone to a ministry, He gives them a "supernatural" love for the object of that ministry. And I love each and every family that God has placed in my care. What God originally told us was that families struggle in order to obey the command to homeschool their kids and that we were to do "whatever it looks like" to help them. That leaves it all pretty much "wide open" as far as what we are willing to do to love-on and assist our families. If one of our moms is in trouble, we do everything we can to help. If
we can't physically (or financially) “do” anything, we can always pray,
and we try to remember to do that before we do anything else. We believe
that if God wants us to be involved He will provide whatever is needed -
and if He doesn't then we are to pray and wait. When God says "go" we "go!". God told us that everything we do must be free. However, sometimes the place we are going to charges a fee, so our policy is that we never allow anyone to be left out because they can't afford it. Just let us know if you can't manage the entrance fee and we will figure something out. I know what it is like to always be the one whose kids miss out every time because there is just no money for "non-necessities" like field trips. We figure that money is not a good enough reason to get left behind when our Heavenly Father wants to provide for us and to give His children good gifts. Some of the things we do... Homeschool 101: We encourage and meet with new homeschoolers to give them a “feel” for what homeschooling is, is not, and should be. And show them some of the different kinds of curriculum and "schools of thought" for teaching. Our new homeschoolers classes are about four hours long and we hope they will set you on a firm foundation to begin your homeschooling journey. The most important thing we believe we can do for homeschoolers is to help them unlearn what they believe school should look like. Homeschooling IS NOT and SHOULD NOT BE public school at home. Our goals and methods are entirely different which is why we score higher than both private and public schoolers on standardized tests (on average) - by 30 percentile points! Care Group: An evening of education and fellowship with like-minded people (having real relationships with one another - Facebook is NOT a relationship). We get together, have a family style meal and then learn something together. It is our desire to train parents to have the answers to their children's hard questions. We teach things that used to be taught in school, things that kids need to know to refute what the world teaches them, things such as biblical parenting, apologetics, biblical archaeology, the persecuted church, biblical history, prophesy's fulfilled or the miracles experienced by Israel that proves God's hand is still on them. Prayer: We meet together weekly to pray for each other and all the families of the group as well as the world our kids are growing up into, in general. Library Day: We have a homeschool library which has curriculum, posters and learning games which were donated by other homeschoolers for moms to check out for a year and bring back when they are done. If you would rather keep a book, then we allow that as well, for a donation to the ministry. We don't tell you how much. Some can afford more and some less - The amount is between you and God -- we trust you to be faithful. God has also provided us with a new home for our library. As of June 20th, it will be locate in Bethel Family Ministries at 6301 Alabama St. (Right in the middle of everyone!!) Just join the ministry to get notified when we are opening it each month. The "Members Only" section will be only for our people (those who are on our email list). This will be (soon) a special section with all the best materials and resources. Because we have purchased this section from a grant, we will be keeping stricter tabs on it so that homeschoolers can benefit from these resources for years to come. There are many other things we do in order to train and support homeschoolers. When God gives us a teacher, we have classes. We have a food pantry, we support our many missionaries and other missions to give homeschoolers a chance to teach their children to serve. Whatever ideas we have or things God provides for so we can keep them free, we do. The most important function of
this ministry, I believe, is communication between the moms. Through the
Victorious Heritage Homeschool Ministry email list, we pass information.
Whether it is a field trip, answering questions, a cool web site or a
prayer request, or someone just needs to borrow a dog crate, we share it with each other. Whatever the moms believe will be "of value" to the other moms, they send through. This is how we all stay
connected and get to know each other. I also get information on new curriculums, offers and blogs that the normal homeschooler would never see - partly because of my years in the homeschool world - but also because they find my web site and send to us. We are also affiliates with Grand Canyon University so any family member associated with the ministry (not just the kids) will get a discount there.
If you have questions on any
subject, just shoot an email through and ask all the other moms. There
are about 325 (+) of them willing to give an opinion on just about anything.
Most of them have never met one another, but we know each other
through the email, and we know we are never alone.... There are sisters
out there who are praying us through. At the same time, we ask that you keep your heart open for the reason that God brought YOU to the ministry. We are a body - if any of the parts of the body are not functioning then the body becomes lame. If everyone pitches in, then no one should be overworked. I can't do it all - I am a counselor, leader and facilitator, but the families of the ministry have to be willing to put together events for me to facilitate or pitch in to help someone else. The group is only as loving, helpful and active as the Moms within it make it.
We are here to serve Christ together. I am here to serve you by the
power of the Holy Spirit living in me through Jesus Christ our Lord. The
name is "Homeschool" Ministry but we are about the Lord's business. You
can ask us for help about anything. We pray first, and if the Lord says
"do" -- we do. If we sound like "your cup of tea" drop me a note and I will add your name to the address list. For God's Glory! Deb | Important contacts Founder/Ministry Head: Deb Roennebeck Ministry Email: Debs phone: 915-593-7241 (Landline) First Officer/ Missions Coordinator: Prayer Ministry: Katherine Leeper katherine_anne6.33@yahoo.com 915-701-8945 |