WHO IS THE HOMESCHOOL ADVANTAGE?
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Bret, Jacqueline, Alan, Kressant, Rachel, Bethany, Arman, & Yerik Smith. Our ministry strives to help parents better educate their children, and to help families fulfill their God-ordained roles as emabassies of the Kingdom of God here on earth. |
A Little History
In June of 1988, Bret Smith went to the Griffin Public Library on a secret mission.
He and his wife, Jacqueline, had a son named Alan who was going to turn 5 years
old in July. They knew that they did not want to send their boy to school; they
believed that he would be much better off if they taught him at home. But they
were ignorant about homeschooling as a movement, and Bret was concerned that
what they were about to do might be illegal. Were they going to have to lead
an underground existence? Was Alan going to become a prisoner on their 5 acre
homesite for the next few years? They were willing to make that sacrifice if
necessary; but it was time to find out just what they were getting into!
So Bret went into the library and asked the librarian where he could find the Code Books for Georgia State Law. She kindly directed him to the appropriate shelf space; all 6 feet of it! "No, thank you," Bret told her when she asked if he needed help finding anything in particular in the Code. He did not want her to know what he was looking for. It took him over four hours to find the section on compulsory school attendance. But when he left the library, he was walking tall; it turned out that homeschooling in Georgia was not only legal, but there were very few requirements placed on homeschooling parents.
The Smith family continued to study about home education and became active in their local homeschool support group. Then in 1991, they moved to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. There they found a public school system in shambles, with the highest per capita private school attendance rate of any nation on earth. But surprisingly enough, almost no one on the island was homeschooling!
Over the next 5 years, the Smith family worked diligently to try to bring the message of home education to the people. They hosted a support group in their home, organized curriculum fairs, sponsored a Family Camp for homeschooling families, conducted seminars in churches across the island, and helped to build CHEC, Puerto Rico's first island-wide homeschool organization. Quality educational materials were hard to come by. So Jacqueline began to secure wholesale accounts with educational publishers, and she began providing high quality books and tapes to the people. Thus was born The Homeschool Advantage.
When the legislature threatened to enact legislation to regulate home education, the newly formed CHEC was able to pack out the Senate Hearing chamber with concerned parents, and Bret met with Michael Smith of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association to develop a defense strategy. The Homeschool Advantage produced a series of weekly radio programs on the island's largest Christian radio station to combat the legislation and to educate the people about homeschooling.
In November of 1996, the Smith family moved back to Georgia. In January they were invited by their friends at HSLDA to attend a homeschool leadership conference in Atlanta, where they first found out about Carolyn Hugley's infamous House Bill 586, which attempted to outlaw the majority of Georgia's Christian homeschools and severely regulate the remainder. During lunch with HSLDA's Kris Klicka, Bret discussed the possibility of putting together some radio programs to combat HB 586. And so, with the sponsorship of some local area churches, they ran a 16 week series of The Homeschool Advantage Radio Talk Show.
The following are some of the services provided by The Homeschool Advantage:
Book shows for churches and homeschool support groups
Public speaking for civic organizations
Seminars and classes
Speaking and singing in churches across the state
Mentoring of families through hospitality and discipling
The Homeschool Advantage is financed through the business ventures of the Smith
family. Their primary business is Captain's Computers, providing on-site computer
service and network management. Their marketing strategy relies heavily on their
referral program, where homeschooling families and businessmen can earn significant
income through signage, brochure box placement, drop zones, and personal networking.
Proverbs 13:20 says, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed." Companionship is the key to learning, and the Smith family routinely mentors other homeschooling families by offering hospitality at Green Acres, their home in Griffin, GA. To inquire about coming to spend some time with the Smith family, call 678-570-2195 or email CaptainBret@HomeschoolAdvantage.US. PT (physical training) is at 7am, breakfast at 8, worship at 8:30, music pracitce at 9, and then it's time to work. Be prepared to work hard!
May God help you to always give your kids an advantage--
The Homeschool Advantage!