text: MassHOPE Homeschool Convention 2015 | Starstruck in Southbridge
  ← Anniversary Outing
  4H Event at Old Sturbridge Village →
  Once Annually our Christian Homeschool Organization in Massachusetts, MassHOPE, puts on a Homeschool Convention. They offer programs for the young ones, and programs for the TEENS. My daughter was ecstatic to get to go to this event as was I. Last year (2014) we had missed the convention completely. I actually knew about it, but evidently it coincided with our anniversary and we already had some plans to go to Lake Champlain (see that post here ). I wasn't going to miss out on seeing Champ so the Convention would have to wait, we'd been to them before in Texas, but of course never the MassHOPE event.
  So we signed up for the weekend of seminars which mainly would be held Friday and Saturday and after chores Friday morning, off we went. There were quite a few speakers we had hoped to see, but so little time. We went through our schedule and highlighted the one's we wished to see the most. We made some tough decisions and then we settled on the following speakers:
  Session 1: Religious Liberty and Parental Rights in Massachusetts –
  the last lines of defense for our families? – Presenter: Andrew Beckwith
  Overview: This was a very good presentation and we got a lot of great info from this workshop. This basically covered "knowing your rights" and "know where to get help." The bottomline was "We must not allow our government to be taken over by heathens." We were invited to go to the Pro-Family Lobby Day in Boston, MA.
  Session 2: "Building the Machine" (film on Common Core)
  The title is self explanatory, it was a very good video and I highly recommend you check it out.
  Get involved! For more info on this topic see the following links:
  http://www.hslda.org/commoncore/Video.aspx
  https://www.facebook.com/BuildingtheMachine
  Session 3: Constitutional Literacy:
  It's for you and your children – Presenter: Mike Farris
  Overview: We learned that "Constitution is a LAW for the Government." A pastor cannot violate Constitutional Law.
  The Constitution is based on 2 things:
  Criteria for Presendential Candidate:
  Do they know the Constitution – Part and Parcel?
  Memorize all 7 articles and 27 ammendments
  Understand what the words:
  Mean (to the people that wrote them)
  According to Supreme Court interpretation – today
  Did you know? The Supreme Court gets it wrong MOST of the time.
  Two moral ways to make law:
  People – Direct Democracy
  Elected Legislators -Only elected legislators can CHANGE the constitution.
  A president who changes it in anyway outside the two above mentioned ways.
  For more information, Patrick Henry College is offering a course on Constitutional Literacy, see the following links:
  http://conlaw.hslda.org/cms/
  https://store.hslda.org/constitutional-literacy-with-michael-farris-dvd-second-edition-p701.aspx
  At lunch time we crossed the street and visited a Mexican Restaurant nearby. I was personally SHOCKED to see the material they had covered the benches in the booth where we were seated. Ok, I sort of "get" the Aztec priest and virgin, although most people don't have a clue. They probably see this as a romantic moment and the priest is simply a man rescuing a maiden. Not-so, this is a Priest offering a sacrifice. Then the Santa Muerte there, the skeletal woman garbed in a robe is a disturbing feature of this fabric as well. The drug cartels on the border worship the Santa Muerte and all the murders they commit are done in honor of this god (little g). I wasn't thrilled about this and knew that most of the people seated in this restaurant have NO idea what all that means…. and frankly, they likely do not/would not care. So, despite the fabric, lunch was decent. Gourmet burritos, fancy nachos, this is NOT the Mexican food we are accustomed to in Texas, but it would do to satisfy our hunger.
  Moving on…back to the convention…
  Session 4: How to use the Article V Power of the States to Stop our Runaway Federal Government – Presenter: Mike Farris
  This is basically Part 2 of the previous (Session 3 Constitutional Literacy) lecture.
  One main thing we learned was the following:
  It has been touted that the "Constitution Convention was illegal." This is a LIE.
  For more info on this topic, visit this link: http://www.conventionofstates.com/
  Session 5: Teaching Options to Diversify Your High School Program
  Presenter: Carol Becker
  There were many items presented here, but alas I did not take notes. Instead there were many brochures handed out. Remember we only went to 5 workshops, there was sooo much more offered. If any of these things remotely interested you, I highly recommend that you plan on attending next years Convention, plans are already in the works, so put it on your calendar and don't miss out!!
  I will add the link a below.
  After the last workshop we went for a walk through the vendor area. Thankfully we have been blessed with MOST of our curriculum for the next 3 years, but just for fun we walked through to check out the vendors we know and to see if there were any new vendors we had not yet learned about.
  We had planned on staying to see the graduates for this year, but time did not allow. We had also planned on returning the following day, but … since we understood that most of the presentations would be repeated we decided to do something else instead. That is for another blog! 🙂
  We will plan on returning next year. If you are a homeschooler and you are Christian, we feel it is important to support these events. For us now, and for the future upcoming generations. If you are thinking about going… GO! 🙂
  Until next time, take care and Yah bless!
  This entry was posted in Adventure, Family, God, Homeschool, Prayer, Protection and tagged Constitution, homeschool, MassHope Convention 2015, Mike Farris. Bookmark the permalink.