New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition
Quarterly Board Meeting Minutes
New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition August 24, 2020
Quarterly Board Meeting 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Virtual meeting on Zoom
Attendees: Althea Barton, Darlene Barker, Zadiah Eisenburg, Valerie Abasciano, Angela Kantz, Kathy Edelblut, and Amy Farkas.
Call to order: 6:07 PM
Minutes of May 14, 2020 meeting: Amy Farkas makes motion to accept minutes as written from May 14, 2020, quarterly board meeting. Zadiah seconds the motion. The motion passes.
Officer Election
The annual representative election was held in June 2020. Officers for the 2020/2021 year must be appointed.
Coordinator – Emilia will check with Amy Gall to see if she is willing to be interim coordinator until we can find someone willing to accept this position.
Secretary – Emilia volunteered to continue to serve as secretary. Kathy motions for Emilia Brown to serve as secretary. Zadiah seconds the motion. The motion passes.
Treasurer – Emilia motions for Amy Gall to be elected as treasurer, pending her agreement. Amy Farkas seconds the motion. The motion passes.
Webmaster – Emilia motions for Amy Farkas to continue to serve as webmaster. Darlene seconds the motion. The motion passes.
Newsletter editor – Emilia motions for Darlene Barker to continue to serve as newsletter editor. Amy Farkas seconds the motion. The motion passes.
Officer Reports
Coordinator’s Report
Interim coordinator not present.
Secretary’s Report – Emilia Brown
Emilia compiled new district member lists and emailed them to each district representative. She has continued to update the master membership list with new members when they sign up on the website. Membership submissions have picked up in recent months, but not as significantly as phone calls, emails, and discussions on the Facebook group. Some individuals have signed up for the newsletter through a MailChimp link on Facebook instead of through the website. This link should not be shared in the future, if possible, so people continue to sign up through the website with the proper information for membership. Emilia has emailed the people who signed up through the Mailchimp link to encourage them to sign up through the website as well.
Emilia also updated the public and private board member lists and emailed them to the board to review.
Treasurer’s Report – Amy Gall (not present)
Emilia will check with Amy G. about a treasurer’s report.
Amy F. has been forwarding guidebook orders to Amy G. Amy G. ordered 50 copies of the guidebook in July. Amy F. believes at least 20 of those 50 have already been purchased.
Webmaster’s Report – Amy Farkas
Amy F. has been very busy. A lot of people have been requesting to join the NHHC Facebook group. Amy G. goes through a series of checks to make sure requests are from real people and not scammers to keep the group running smoothly. She has also received a lot of questions through email, and Facebook Messenger. She added four new tutors to the website. She forwards difficult questions to the board. On Wednesdays, she has been posting Facebook conversation starters written by the NHHC district representatives. Those have been going well, and seem well-received. Eileen will write something this Wednesday, next week will be Valerie, and Althea will share something for Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Amy F. sends new members of the Facebook group a message when she adds them and asks them to tell us a little more about themselves. It is extra work, but it keeps the group well-vetted and on track. It is important to note that the Facebook group is private and separate from the public NHHC Facebook page.
Amy F. could use help monitoring Facebook posts. Though accurate information is important when answering questions on the page, she thinks responding officially via the NHHC name sometimes squashes conversation.
Darlene is interested in helping with some webmaster duties. Amy F. can train Darlene on doing reference checks for tutors. She could also train her to update the page of tutors on the NHHC website.
Newsletter Editor’s Report – Darlene Barker
The newsletter is going well and the board is pleased with how it has been looking. Darlene had an issue with the login information, but the issue has been fixed. She is trying to keep the newsletter fairly simple and straightforward.
HEAC Report – Stefanie Marsh
Stef was not able to be present at the meeting, but she emailed the board stating she does not have anything specific to report. HEAC does not meet over the summer. She will be in touch when she has more to report.
Representative Reports
Dist. 1 – Valerie Abasciano
Valerie has been getting many emails and phone calls. She was contacted by librarians from the Hampton Public Library and North Hampton Public Library who set up an informational Zoom meeting about homeschooling. The meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 2nd from 6:00 – 7:00 PM. Valerie plans to participate and would like other NHHC board members to help, if possible. The librarians will ask the panelists questions, like why you are homeschooling, what you like about homeschooling, etc. Ideally, they would like to find panelists who are not just faith-based, and who have a variety of backgrounds. They would share an advertisement for the event which we could share on the NHHC Facebook page. People can participate from all over the state – not just those local to the seacoast. Darlene says she can help. Emilia can help if more panelists are needed, though scheduling on Wednesdays is difficult for her.
Dist. 2 – Amy Farkas
Amy F. sent a question to the board email group about IEPs. She was able to get an answer.
Dist. 3 – Amy Gall
Not present.
Dist. 4 – Eileen Paluszek
Eileen was not present, but she emailed the board prior to the meeting. She has been receiving a lot of calls and emails, but they have slowed down in August. Inquiries come mostly from people who are confused about the legal requirements, believing there must be a lot more required of them than what the law actually states.
VLACS has closed its elementary classes and most middle school courses, causing more issues for people hoping to use that option.
Eileen also did a Zoom webinar with her local library, The Goodwin Library. There were not very many participants, but a lot of good questions were asked.
OpenStax is an educational resource that provides free textbooks and low-cost courses. Eileen is going to try it in her homeschool for Biology and possibly AP US History this year. She will let us know what her experience is.
Dist. 5 – Zadiah Eisenberg
Zadiah has been receiving more phone calls than usual, with typical questions and concerns.
Dist. 6 – Lori Trickel (contact)
Not present.
Dist. 7 – Kathy Edelblut
Kathy has received just a handful of calls and emails. She feels she is far removed from the younger grades, with high school being her forte. She has been pointing most people initially to HSLDA for more information.
Amy F. noted that though many people come to NHHC reps through the NHHC website, they often have not fully explored it, and their questions can often be answered with guidance to the correct link on our site.
Dist. 8 – Angela Kantz
Angela is somewhat new to NH and has been officially homeschooling here for two years. She found the NHHC website really helpful transferring over from MA. She has had a lot of calls about people moving from other states, and from people who have wanted to homeschool in the past, but have only recently decided to do it because of COVID. Today she was contacted by the Daughters of the American Revolution. They have an essay contest homeschoolers might be interested in. Amy Farkas says Angela can send the information to her to put on the website.
Dist. 9 – Althea Barton
Althea has been receiving quite a few calls, but it has been calming down a little. The questions she finds hardest are from people asking, very generally, “How do I homeschool?” or “How do I find the curriculum?” Her approach has been to refer them to specific parts of the website, to invite them to join the NHHC and Facebook page, and to give them some personal perspective. Often she is able to encourage them to calm down and understand that they are indeed capable of homeschooling, and do not necessarily need to be part of a pod or spend a lot of money. Althea also appreciates being able to pass questions along to the NHHC board group.
Valerie shared that the Rainbow Resource customer service employees will counsel people on curriculum sources. She has heard positive feedback from other homeschoolers who have mentioned “Judy,” specifically, as being fabulous. Valerie has found it to be a great resource for curriculum guidance.
Dist. 10 – Darlene Barker
Darlene has received a lot of calls. Initially, a lot of people seemed to be panicking about this school year. Talking to them about her own experience homeschooling seems to help in most cases. A lot of people want to know what to do until the pandemic is over. She directs a lot of people to the website. On Wednesday, she will be doing the Derry Library homeschool Zoom event.
Dist. 11 – Emilia Brown
Emilia has received more phone calls and emails than usual in the last couple of months, but not an outstanding number. Most inquiries have involved people looking to connect with other homeschoolers in the area or standard questions about getting started homeschooling.
Dist. 12 – Tikatia Morris
Not present.
Old Business
1. Guidebook Revision
Zadiah will upload the Guidebook revision file to Google doc. so the board can work through it together, a chapter at a time. Zadiah sent a portion of the Guidebook to Valerie, which she has been working on.
2. Video Series
Emilia will contact Stefanie Marsh to see if she might be willing to do a video explaining what HEAC is all about.
Amy Farkas enjoys going to events and live streaming to show people what particular events are like. She could do that for local events coming up, possibly including homeschool co-ops.
Valerie has some ideas for videos but has not had time to devote to working on them. Once her co-op gets going, she would like to get back to some video ideas with her students. One of the things they are doing at her co-op is a study skills and career course. One of the projects the kids have is to develop their study space. She is going to ask the kids if they might be willing to have a video of their study space.
3. Annual Election Results
We welcomed Kathy Edelblut as district representative for District 7 (Nashua area). In District 6 (Salem area), Lori Trickel will stay on as a contact person. All other districts re-elected reps from the previous year:
District 1 (Portsmouth area) – Valerie Abasciano
District 2 (Keen/Monadnock area) – Amy Farkas
District 3 (Littleton area) – Amy Gall
District 4 (Rochester area) – Eileen Paluszek
District 5 (Sunapee area) – Zadiah Eisenberg
District 8 (Carroll County) – Angela Kantz
District 9 (Concord area) – Althea Barton
District 10 (Manchester area) – Darlene Barker
District 11 (Laconia area) – Emilia Brown
District 12 (Berlin/Colebrook area) – Tikatia Morris
New Business
1. Outreach
The Commissioner of Education has done several Zoom calls, one on pods and microschools with the Granite State Homeschoolers. He is happy to help and do more.
The board identified three main areas in which NH homeschoolers, and those interested in homeschooling, currently seem to need support and resources:
Socialization
Legal Requirements
Curriculum
Each topic could be covered in the newsletter in the next three issues, and posted about on the Facebook group. A link should be provided to the relevant page on https://nhhomeschooling.org/ as well.
2. New district rep. orientation – accessing documents
Emilia explained how to access documents on the groups.io website.
Kathy asked if current district reps had any advice for new reps. Some general information shared included the following:
Consult with other reps/the board if you come across a question to which you do not know the answer. Remember what the New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition is all about: supporting all reasons for homeschooling, remaining apolitical in information shared, helping people find resources that will be helpful to them and not your personal homeschooling ideals.
Some district representatives expressed how they find that making a personal connection and sharing their experiences can be helpful and well-received when guiding new homeschoolers. Zadiah shared that through her training and experience as a La Leche League Leader she learned that people often receive support best when it comes from a neutral source, e.g. “Many homeschoolers find it helpful when…” instead of using your direct experience, e.g. “When my kids were young, I used to….” and that some might feel you cannot help them if they are aware your experiences or beliefs differ greatly from theirs.
Valerie asked if we need consent forms for individuals in the background when creating a video at an event (or co-op), or if verbal consent is enough. Emilia will follow-up with Stef or Amy G. about this question.
The next meeting will be scheduled for December via Doodle poll created by Emilia.
Adjourn: 8:03 PM