And now for something new, and purdy cool. A homeschool parent just started a new organization called Southwest Home Educators' Association, which focuses on connecting us in the western states of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico. SHEA describes itself as: "A support group that encourages participation in sports, clubs, workshops, field trips, and co-op classes and love social opportunities! Through trained Area Leaders, SHEA will strive to bring you the warmth of a local support group, combined with the strength of a regional organization."

On the Home Education Leaders' Place of Colorado (HELP_CO) list, Angeline Rock, homeschool mom and SHEA Field Trip Coordinator wrote an introduction:

"Recently, a friend of mine organized a new 6-state home educators association and asked me to be field trip coordinator (probably because I am so passionate about getting homeschooled kids together, lol).

My duties will include traveling around the 6 member-states and visiting with group leaders. We want to promote home education on all levels, and hear about your concerns and share your enthusiasm.

I wanted our first field trip to be a big event – to kick off the "year" (most homeschoolers don't have a start and stop year, but some do). I think Disneyland is pretty big! So, our first Not-Back-To-School-Days has been booked for September 24 and 25, 2007 and we are taking part in Disneyland's new Youth Education Series.

Please feel free to email me with any comments – and I hope to meet some of you real soon at one of your activities, or one of ours!"

Good luck Angeline and SHEA! Hats off! We need more energy like this!

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