Volunteers Needed for August Conference!

Hello all! We will be needing volunteers to sign up for one or two hour blocks during our upcoming conference on Friday, August 17, 2007 at Taylor Ranch Community Center from 9-2PM. So please email me or the contact below to sign up for your spot!! If we do not get enough volunteers to man the kids' craft area there is a good chance we will not have it because it is too large a liability to have kids be unattended in the patio area and unfair to ask one or two older kids to be the ones telling parents not to leave their kids.

Here are the positions:

1. Entrance table

Duties: Count each person as they enter. Basically 'man' the entrance table, answer questions, hand out freebies available. Contact Tabitha NMHomeschoolCommunityUdpdates@gmail.com

2. Kids Craft area:

Duties: Ask parents not to leave their kids. We are not going to babysit and we are not responsible for children left unattended. This is a huge liability and the parents must watch their kids. So basically your job is to make sure the kids have their parents with them. Contact Chris Tucker chrislanter4@yahoo.com

We will be having a meeting on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 from 6:30-8:30PM at Title Wave Books to discuss the conference volunteering as well as other positions that I would like filled for the NM Homeschool Community such as the ones below, those of you who have already responded as interested will be sent an email this weekend:
Here are some volunteer positions that I need filled in order to truly become a community resource for homeschoolers, I realize that we are all busy with our lives but if we work together each performing a small task all together we will make a difference and that way the burden is not falling on a few people and eventually benefiting all homeschoolers present and future:

1.
Please contact me if you have an interest in becoming a volunteer to keep the community aware of legislation both at a statewide, local and federal level. These volunteer positions would consist of a team of 3 or 4 individuals who would become knowledgeable in the political arena and in turn educate the New Mexico homeschool community through emails and discussions. Your 'work' would consist of phone calls, internet research and compilation of emails to be sent out through the New Mexico Homeschool network. Thus in turn empowering our community to write, email and contact our lawmakers to let them know the needs of our community.

I have found that lawmakers do not know the variety of homeschooling families that exist in New Mexico. Most lawmakers are aware of the successful activities of larger groups such as CAPE and HSDLA but they represent only a fraction of the modern homeschooling family. Statistics show that there are millions of us in the United States and in order to maintain our freedoms to homeschool and in turn raise our families the way we each see fit we need to make sure we are educated in politics and not standing on the sidelines waiting to be told when something is happening or when things have already been passed through legislature.

Please note that this is not an effort to compete with the groups mentioned above but a chance to continue to utilize the network that has come about through the New Mexico Homeschool Community emails. I realize that not all groups or individuals will agree on everything but we all agree that homeschooling is a freedom that we need to protect. Active discussions of pros and cons will be a part of the New Mexico Homeschool Community Yahoo group so that you can vote and make calls to those in the political arena that are best for your families' choices.

2.
Assisting me in contacting other groups around the state and bordering states. I have some contacts and homeschoolers email me weekly asking about one group or another in a certain area of our state and I would like to have more information to give them as well as contacts throughout the state to truly form a network of homeschoolers.

Eventually, at the fairs, I would like to have resources available from those far-reaching communities. I realize we are in Albuquerque and it would mean a drive for some but it is a good central location and I like to dream! Any conference or fair we hold here would be a draw for some in an region which has too few homeschooling conventions.

3.
Someone to assist in making sure what I send out is entered into the calender on the blog. I have tried to do this and it seems I get further behind the moment I send things out every day. This is not a huge technical 'job' I can show you how to do it very easily or even walk you through it over the phone!

Thanks in advance for offering to help you are all truly appreciated members of the community!