March 24, 2009

THEA CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

WITH A SPECIAL PROGRAM IN THE

WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM

ADJACENT TO THE STATE CAPITOL

in

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

You've just got to come be with us. Please join us for a patriotic celebration filled with speeches, music, special honors for home school students and for legislators, who work diligently in serving the Great State of Tennessee. Our special guest speakers are Bobbie Patray, President of TN Eagle Forum, David Fowler, President of Family Action Council of Tennessee, and Will Estrada, Executive Director Generation Joshua

Will Estrada 

Director of Generation Joshua 

What will the new and old Washington insiders enact that affects your family?

Who is generating an agenda that will change Tennessee's laws?

Is there anything you and I can do in the next few weeks and months to affect the legislative, executive and judicial practices implemented?

If these questions are on your mind, you'll want to hear Will Estrada present the ministry and vision of Generation Joshua and the work of changing the US Consitution in favor of parental rights.

Will is a homeschool graduate from Pennsylvania and the eldest of eight children. He began working for HSLDA in January of 2004 as a legal assistant for Staff Attorney Scott Woodruff. After graduating from Oak Brook School of Law with a Juris Doctorate in May 2006, he moved to HSLDA's federal lobbying arm as the Director of Federal Relations. As HSLDA's representative on Capitol Hill, Will has used his enthusiasm for homeschooling to passionately advocate for homeschool freedoms before Congress and the various Federal Departments that impact homeschooling. Under his leadership, HSLDA re-instituted the Congressional Action Program, CAP, to train local homeschooling families to be able to lobby effectively on Capitol Hill on the issues that affect homeschoolers. 

Will has a passion to not only equip parents but young people as well to become effective advocates for the values that are important to homeschooling families and our nation. Will is married to a homeschool graduate, Rachel, and they live in Northern Virginia.  

Bobbie Patray has dedicated much of her life to working with the Kentucky and Tennessee legislative processes. This year presents wonderful opportunities and complex difficulties at the state and federal levels. Bobbie's Tennessee Eagle Forum maintains a very watchful, wise eye observing what's going on in Nashville and she sees with remarkable clarity what must be done and how to accomplish it. No one knows and better applies their skills of persuasion while working in a most honorable, focused manner.

David Fowler has been a powerful agent of change in Tennessee. As an attorney, a state Senator, a college professor, and now President of the FACTN, which is the Focus on the Family's local branch. Religious freedom is at a very high level on David's agenda. With a disarming smile, an incredible intensity, a most insightful analysis and a steady constancy David works in Tennessee's legislature spreading the good word of the Truth Project, http://www.thetruthproject.org/, which is just the type of learning development that will change many hearts and minds.

To help you comprehend Rally Day and how your family can be engaged, let me describe the activities of the day and give each a time line. If you are a home schooler, this day is for you and your family. I'd liken the day to Mayberry's Mr. Darlin when as his family began some down home country music, he told Andy, "When you hear a place you want to just jump in with us and hold on."

That's how we try to set up Rally Day. You just find a place and jump on it with us. It's lots of fun.

Tuesday March 24

7:00 - 8:45 Stage Setup in War Memorial Auditorium at the 7th Avenue loading dock.

7:00 Unload 180 dozen cookies for later delivery

7:00 - 3:00 Set up and maintain Home School displays in the hallways of Legislative Plaza. This is being handled in advance by volunteers coordinated by Suzanne Myhre

7:30 - 4:00 Now Schedule appointments for families with Senators and Representatives. Call now and meet with them. Be sure to get a Blue Book and a photo with your legislators.

8:15 Unload Ferns, set up Flag Stands, etc.

8:45 - 11:15 Program in War Memorial Auditorium

10:00 Start setup for lunch for the Legislators and their staff at the top of the escalators

11:00 - 1:15 Lunch for our legislators and their staff

11:05 Man tables in the War Memorial Auditorium Lobby area

11:10 Start setup for Student Congress in the Senate Chambers

11:30 - 1:00 Vacate War Memorial Auditorium storing rental items in the downstairs hallway

12:00 - 2:00 Families deliver cookies to legislator's offices. Yes this is for you and its lots of fun.

12:30 - 4:00 Student Congress in Senate Chambers, with visitors welcome to observe

1:00 - 4:00 You arrange tours of Capitol Building, TN Museum, TN Military Museum, etc.

1:15 Breakdown lunch line and move rental items into the back hallway for pickup

2:00 Breakdown Displays in the halls

3:00 Meet rental companies coming for pickup of their goods

4:30 Be completely out of the Senate Chambers and Capitol building

Announcing THEA’s 2009 Capitol Hill Rally and Reception Day, Tuesday, March 24th  

On Rally Day 2009, Tennessee Home Education Association, THEA, www.tnhea.org, will again highlight, three great Speech and Debate opportunities for Tennessee homeschoolers provided by our sister organization, Christian Communicators of Tennessee, CCT, www.cctennessee.org, Download the printer friendly version of a Rally Day program here. 

WHY does the THEA Board Host Rally Day? All year dues are collected with THEA receiving $9 from each membership. Thousands of families join and it takes every one of you. Then in one day, Rally Day, we spend between1/3 and 1/2 of the year's budget.  

WHY, you ask? So you will come to Nashville, TN and put a face on home schooling with your two legislators. That's right. You've got two, a Representative and a Senator, who are in Nashville representing you. It's like you were sitting in that seat in the House or Senate pushing that button for YES or for NO. They push it for you. They represent you.  

We've had people who already knew these legislators telling them that homeschoolers were bad. Our plan then is to ask you to come to Nashville and meet with them. That's right. Our whole plan is to get you here so you will meet with them. Then they'll know that they have homeschoolers in their district.  

Let them know that they are your State Representative or State Senator. (Use this link to find your two state representatives.) It really helps them. They can campaign for their next election without having to leave their office. 

For many of you this is old hat. You've been here every year since 1985 meeting with your legislators. Whether you've been there once or twenty-five times please take a couple of minutes to tell us your family's story, so we can use that to encourage other families to create their story, too.  

The Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition: Compete to be a Senator in our State Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill 

Student Congress Competition: THEA & CCT will jointly host a two-day event for Rally Day beginning with the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition, a Student Congress Competition for homeschool students ages 11 + up. 

The Preliminary Rounds are on Monday, March 23^rd on the Campus of Free Will Baptist Bible College 

On Monday THEA & CCT will host two Preliminary Rounds of the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition on the campus of the Freewill Baptist Bible College, www.fwbbc.edu.  Please go to Christian Communicators of Tennessee's web site  for scheduling for judges and participants.  

Freewill Baptist Bible College will allow us eat in their on-campus cafeteria. We can eat at their cafeteria, where they always serve a hot meal, sandwiches and a salad bar. The cost per meal is $4.00 per person regardless of the items selected. FWBBC wants a head-count of how many of us will go through their lunch line, so on the on-line Competition registration form there is a way to indicate whether you & your family members will be eating from their offerings. Please indicate if you are planning to eat at the FWBBC cafeteria. Do not send your lunch fee to the Tournament registration; this is just for a head-count for FWBBC. 

FWBBC has also opened the cafeteria for those of us who bring our own lunches to sit at their tables.  

Senators Qualifying for the Final Round  

The announcement of those student Senators who break to the Final Round of the Tournament will occur during Rally Day ceremonies in the War Memorial Auditorium, WMA, on Tuesday, March 24^th. The WMA Rally on Tuesday begins at 8:45 a.m. and concludes at 11:00 a.m. 

Registration 

Registration for the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition is required. The Registration is on a first come, first served basis, however if possible we want to include all registrants. The number of competitors will be determined by the number of rooms available to us at Freewill Baptist Bible College. Registration is done on the Christian Communicators of Tennessee web site, from the Student Congress link. To register, go to www.cctennessee.org, and click on the Student Congress link.  

The registration fee is $20 per participant, with a maximum of $50 per family. The registration fees help defray the costs of printing, awards, and Judge’s gifts. For those families who are not members of THEA there will be an additional $10 fee. You must register from the CCT web site. Once you complete your registration form, print it out and mail it with your check, made out to CCT, to the address on the form. You will not be officially registered until your monies are received. 

Submitting Bills & Resolutions for the Tournament 

Once you have registered, you can submit your bills and resolutions in the proper format from the Student Congress and bills/resolutions links on the CCT web site. Submission of bills and resolutions begins on Thursday, February 28th. The bills and resolutions will then be reviewed by CCT and THEA. The bills and resolutions selected and approved by CCT and THEA to be debated in the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition will be posted, so watch for that listing at CCT. 

You do not have to submit a bill or resolution to participate, although your potential to compete is reduced. To debate and discuss these bills you will need to review them, determine your position on the issues involved, study the issues, and find, prepare and bring evidence to support your positions. This is the way to prepare to debate and vote for or against the bills.  

If one of your bills or resolutions is chosen to be debated, you will make an authorship speech at the podium facing the Senator's seats or desks. This spot is referred to as the "well". Authorship Speeches can last no more than 3 minutes. To speak in favor of or against a bill or resolution the Senator stands at their desk or seat and can only speak for 2 minutes. If a Senator makes a motion, they do not have to come to the well, but can make their motion from their seat.  

Final Round of the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition in the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill 

As noted above, those student Senators who qualify for the Final Round of the Tournament will be announced during the Rally Day program in the War Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday, March 24^th. See Rally info above. 

The Final Round will take place in the our state Senate Chamber in the Capitol Building on Tuesday afternoon beginning at 12:30 p.m. and concluding at 4:00 p.m. The Chamber can seat 33 Senators, so we will have 33 homeschool students moving to this Final Round from the two Preliminary Rounds on Monday at Freewill Baptist Bible College. 

If you do not have a student participating as a Senator in this Tournament, we invite you to come over to the Senate Chamber and observe all or a portion of the Final Round of the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition from the upstairs gallery of the Senate Chamber. Perhaps you are interested or your children are interested in this event. Come and learn about Student Congress. You can come and go and watch as much as you like, but, please, come and go quietly. 

Take a virtual look at the Senate Chamber where the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Tournament will take place by clicking here, then wait for the Senate chamber to scroll to the screen.  

Once again, we invite Tennessee home school students, members of THEA, to participate in this special opportunity to compete in the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition at Freewill Baptist Bible College with the Final Round in the Tennessee State Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill.  

Please note that the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Competition, because it is a lengthy competition, will take place on both Monday, March 23^rd with two Preliminary Rounds taking place at the Freewill Baptist Bible College and the Final Round taking place after the WMA Rally on Tuesday, March 24^th in the Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill. 

Information on Student Congress from the National Forensics League: www.nflonline.org 

The National Forensics League, NFL, the public and private high school debate league, describes Student Congress as an individual debate in a large group setting. Legislative debaters research and write pieces of legislation that they feel will better the society in which we live, just like our state and U.S Senators. At a tournament, debaters will then speak on the legislation while using proper parliamentary procedure. Judges score each competitor based on argumentation ability, speaking technique, knowledge of parliamentary procedure, and overall participation. 

Each session of Congress will be led by a student Presiding Officer. The Presiding Officers will be selected from the registrants. Preference will be given to high school seniors who have already competed as Presiding Officers in previous Student Congress Competitions. Then high school juniors and younger students will be considered. 

The National Forensics League web site provides great instruction and coaching tips for those participating in this event, including "A Beginner's Resource for Congress Competitors", "Student Congress Helps", "A Congress Handout" which includes guidelines and advice for preparing for and participating in Congress, and "Legislative Brainstorming Hand-out" which guides Congress debaters to brainstorm arguments. All of these documents can be downloaded from the NFL web site.  

Understanding Parliamentary Procedure 

You will also need to understand parliamentary procedure, which are the operative rules for governing legislative bodies, including Student Congress. Here’s a list of the most frequently used parliamentary motions from the National Forensic League web site. Robert’s Rules of Order, available at bookstores, is the widely used book on parliamentary procedures. The procedures used by the Tennessee State Senate can be found here.  

Student Senators are judged on the delivery of their speech, its organization, content, logic, documented support, oral and physical presentation and style. To see a sample of the Ballot for judging the Student Congressperson, click here.  

Our Judges will be from the community. We hope to have some of our state legislators, along with Will Estrada, Director of Generation Joshua and an attorney, judging for us. Homeschool students knowledgeable of parliamentary procedure will be serving as parliamentarians for each of the Congress Chambers. 

Speech & Debate Opportunities in East Tennessee  

 For information on coaching opportunities for Student Congress in East TN, contact Pam Cooper at cooper7@gmail.com. 

SARA LEE HARRIS WORLDVIEW ORATORY CONTESTS  

Cash Prizes For Senior & Junior Division 1ST, 2ND, & 3RD Place Winners 

These special oratorical contests for THEA members, sponsored by THEA and CCT are named in honor of a Home School Grandmother who is now in heaven, who loved to study and to share her Christian faith, who also was skilled in and loved public speaking. Her family contributed the prize money which will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners in both the Senior Division and Junior Division on Rally Day, March 24^th. 

The first place winners of each Division will also win the privilege to present their Speech on the platform in the War Memorial Auditorium on Rally Day. The Senior Division is for students age 12 by January 1, 2009 and older. The Junior Division is for students ages 8 – 11. 

This year the two divisions will each participate in a different event; the Junior Division students will compete in an Apologetics Worldview Speech Competition and the Senior Division will compete in Mars Hill Speech Competition.    

JUNIOR DIVISION: A Worldview Apologetics Oratory Competition 

The Junior Division Contest will be a Worldview Apologetics Speech Competition. Worldview Apologetics Speech competition deals with issues of faith. The goal of Worldview Apologetics is to motivate students to study their Christian faith and be prepared to articulate a defense of what they believe. Junior Division students will prepare a 3-minute maximum speech on one of the topics from the CCT web site. Listed on the CCT web site are the topics from which students in the Junior Divisions will choose one topic to address in this competition. 

Worldview Apologetics  

The Worldview Apologetics Speech Event is intended to train students to live out 1 Peter 3:15: "… always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;"    

Students will choose from the list of possible questions regarding their faith listed on the CCT web site, www.cctennessee.org.  These are questions that commonly come up in discussing God with unbelievers. Participants will choose a question to answer, write out their speech and mail this to THEA (see address & registration details below). 

This category of speech falls under the classification of Original Oratory. NFL gives this explanation about Original Oratory. As an orator you will be expected to research and speak intelligently, with a degree of originality, in an interesting manner, and with some profit to your audience, about the topic you have chosen. An orator is judged on the effectiveness of development and presentation. A Worldview Apologetics Speech can have as its goal to strengthen the audience’s understanding of and, even, devotion to a particular aspect of the Christian worldview and faith.  

Judges will evaluate the competitor based on the soundness of their defense, the biblical and logical support they bring to it, the sincerity and passion which they demonstrate, and their ability to put it into everyday conversational language which can be easily understood. Worldview Apologetics and the Mars Hill Speech competitions epitomize our hopes for training true ambassadors for Christ and the mission statement of CCT which is to train tomorrow’s leaders today. 

SENIOR DIVISION: A Mars Hill Oratory Competition 

To compete in this Contest, Senior Division students will prepare an 8-minute maximum Mars Hill Speech.  

Mars Hill Speech Event  

This event is named after the address that the Apostle Paul gave to the Greeks on Mars Hill (recorded in Acts 17: 16-34). Paul found himself in the midst of a culture which did not understand the God whom he proclaimed and certainly not the specific teachings of Jesus Christ. In addressing them, Paul found a point of connection with his audience by first referring to their own religion and poetry. He then used this point of contact to transition into a discussion of Christ.  

The Mars Hill speech event is intended to train speakers to similarly engage their culture with the purpose of penetrating it with the truth of Christ. To be salt and light in this way will require that speakers first know something about the culture in which they live---perhaps its movies, songs, creeds, core beliefs, etc. Knowing and understanding the worldviews of our culture and the need within the heart of man for the love, joy, forgiveness and peace which comes from Christ alone. In the Mars Hill Speech event, students use their understanding of our culture and with wisdom and skill; use this knowledge as a point of contact to introduce the hearer to the truth of Christ just like Paul did.  

A caution is needed here. Psalm 101.3 tells us, "I will set nothing worthless before my eyes." We are not in the least encouraging our students to put before their eyes or ears things which are worthless or worse. However, much can be learned about one's culture by a little attention to reviews of movies, books, and music without immersing oneself in it. That is the kind of purposeful observation we are speaking of here. (For example, one can read a review about the Harry Potter books and understand the impact they have on the culture without reading the books.) There are many good internet sites from which our students can read reviews of movies and not have to see the movie to understand it and critique, to find the worldview within the movie. One such site is Internet Movie Data Base, www.imdb.com. There are Christian web sites which provide this information, too. Sites such as Focus on the Family’s Plugged In: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/ are excellent resources. 

In short, this event is an 8 minute prepared speech using one or more propositions expressed by our culture (in song, movie, commercials, print or other media) as a point of contact from which some truth of the gospel is drawn. 

How to Participate in the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest 

To enter the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest students must email to President@tnhea.org with a typed copy of their speech with a subject line of : SLH Oratory Contest. The email must be sent by March 9, 2009.  

To join THEA and be eligible to compete, please go to the Organizations tab and select the area of the state in which you live and contact your local group to join.   

More on the Judging Criteria 

The criteria judges will use in evaluating the Apologetics and Mars Hill Speeches include an analysis of the content of the Speech. Questions covering the content include; did the student adhere to the topic, supporting assertions with outside evidence, properly citing sources, and most importantly, did the student provide a biblical basis for their position?  

The judges will also evaluate the Apologetics speeches by whether their defense is logical and well-reasoned. This is not primarily a devotional speech, but a well-reasoned, logical defense of a Biblical position.  

Organization and Analysis evaluation includes these criteria; did the student relate a clear thesis statement? Did the student demonstrate a thorough, working knowledge of their topic, of Scripture and other sources; did the student appropriately use analysis and reasoning, presenting a logical, well-reasoned flow of ideas. 

Failure to address the topic is, of course, a major flaw in the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest can result in disqualification of the Speech. 

The Awards schedule for the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest is: 

Senior Division:  

1st place-$500  

2nd place-$200  

3rd place-$125  

Junior Division: 

1st place-$100 

2nd place-$50 

3rd place-$25 

Opportunities for coaching in Worldview Apologetics and Mars Hill Speech  

Middle TN: Every other Friday night, the next being Friday, Feb. 22nd, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., home school & MTSU graduate, Matthew Bullington teaches youth about these events, coaching them in identifying worldviews and analyzing our culture from a Biblical perspective. For more information, contact Matthew at: matthew.bullington@yahoo.com. 

Numerous Tutorials throughout Middle TN have Worldview classes. See www.chettn.org.  Laurie Mingus teaches a Biblical Worldview class in her home. Contact her at: homeschool_news@yahoo.com. 

West TN: For information on a Junior & Senior Speech Club in the Jackson, TN., area, contact Judith Ann Cartwright at: cartwrightsfarm@aol.com. 

East TN: For information on training for Worldview Apologetics and Mars Hill in East TN, contact Pam Cooper at: cooper7@gmail.com. Cory Bennett also teaches classes on Christian Worldview for homeschool students. Contact Cory at: corygb@charter.net.