Moms crowd the exhibitors at the homeschool expo, set for Camp Jordan on July 20, 21, an annual event serving home educating families and others who care about the best for their children.

Boys look over offerings at the home education expo set this year for July 20, 21 at Camp Jordan in East Ridge.

CSTHEA is gearing up up for its main event of the year, the homeschool expo and curriculum fair July 20 and 21 at Camp Jordan arena in East Ridge.

For a minute we’d like to consider its benefits.

By David Tulis / 92.7 NoogaRadio

Benefits to us— and to the families served by the Chattanooga Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association..

Let’s start with the gain to the families whose cheery faces fill support group meetings, field trips, theater productions and efforts of all sorts.

• The homeschool expo allows for personal interaction with vendors or people who are specialized in a particular curriculum, system or set of books. You can look at books firsthand, vs. just seeing the cover in a catalogue on the Internet.

• Several exhibitors are making a first-time appearance at the event.

• You can support small family business vs. big-box retailers. You can glean from the wisdom of experienced homeschool families, both vendors and workshops.

• You will be able to see old friends you haven’t seen in six months. Your teen can run around with pals for a whole afternoon at the expo and drink more Coke than she might drink in two weeks otherwise.

• Veteran homeschoolers are on hand to encourage and guide new homeschooling moms and couples at the expo. Again we are inviting experienced moms to wear a silk flower with an “Ask me” tag.

Not only do you benefit, but so do we.

The expo is CSTHEA’S primary fundraiser for the year. You can be glad it is so. Many groups hammer their ”members” every quarter for a donation, sending out shrill pleas about imminent collapse or the ”urgent necessity” of sending in at least $25 . We never do that. We don’t dun homeschoolers for a handout, and we don’t sell our mailing list to anyone. We jealously preserve our friends’ addresses and information, and try to keep out of their way as far as financial needs go.

Many of our projects are not quite financially profitable, but CSTHEA funds them because they benefit families associated with us or who subscribe to this newsletter.