Homeschooling Family to Family is an idea whose time has come. God had richly blessed home-schooling families, and it is now time for us to reach out and share those blessings. Home schooling has experienced tremendous changes, such as hiding from school officials in the very early days, and now offers large state conventions and curriculum fairs and even boasts winning national spelling and geography bees and exerts influence with state legislatures around the nation. In spite of this growth and national recognition, no organized, concerted effort to reach out to others has emerged.

Every year many of us find ourselves answering questions from friends and relatives about home schooling. Frequently we also know the people asking questions are intrigued about home schooling, but they are timid to begin the adventure we have found so rewarding. No bridge has existed to help these families transition from early childhood or from public school into home schooling.

Homeschooling Family to Family can become that bridge. Homeschooling Family to Family asks us to extend the hand of Christian fellowship as a home-schooling mentor to help a new family set aside personal fears and begin to home school. We want to encourage seasoned home schoolers to mentor at least one family per year by reaching out to relatives and friends and by helping them take the first step into home schooling! As experienced home schoolers, we can transform those inevitable kitchen-table and backyard conversations into positive home schooling outreach. And, in some cases, mentoring a new family into home schooling will become an opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ.

Ask yourself this question: Are you willing to share your heart for home schooling by guiding a new family through the curriculum maze, by introducing them to support groups and the social opportunities of home schooling, by providing regular counsel and encouragement when it gets tough and by praying regularly for them? If just a fraction of seasoned home schoolers catch this vision and say, "Yes!" we can bring over one million new children into home schooling over the next few years. An added benefit would be a great strengthening of our state and local home-schooling organizations.

We at Homeschooling Family to Family will try to help you out. Our monthly E-newsletter for mentors, our web-site materials including downloadable articles and brochures will help allay a new family's fears and give the mentoring family tools. In addition, we are providing DVD's and CD's to local support groups for distribution to their members to help each family make an informed decision to home school. Home-schooling mentors will support new families as they travel the home-school road with its joys, bumps, discoveries and exhilaration.