PURPOSE
Welcome to CFHE! Our focus is to support and facilitate community in the Spokane area for this new generation of Christian families who have chosen to direct the education of their children.
Christian Family Home Educators is a Christian, non-denominational, nonprofit homeschooling community dedicated to helping parents educate their children at home. We encourage and support parents who homeschool in Spokane Valley and surrounding areas by coordinating and facilitating academic, informational, or social activities that are beneficial to homeschooling families.
Since 1987, CFHE has been a resource and support for Christian homeschooling families throughout the Inland Northwest.
As the needs of homeschooling families have changed, CFHE has tried to adjust and adapt to meet those changing needs.
Now, rather than parents gathering together to help with the process of home education, our focus is on building a vibrant and dynamic Christian homeschool community in Spokane. We're trying to help get the word out about opportunities that may be of interest to Christian homeschooling families in the Spokane/Couer d'Alene area. We host a monthly Mom's Night Out and student assemblies through the school year, but we are not a co-op. Rather, we're a growing community of parents who love Jesus and have decided to intentionally direct the education of our children at home. If you have a co-op that is accepting new families, let us know! We'd love to help get the word out.
In line with our goal of encouraging Christian homeschooling families, we host an annual Chrisitan homeschool conference. After a break for a few years, we're back on track with hosting one of the only Chrisitan home education conferences in the Inland Northwest. We feature local and nationally recognized speakers with experience in home education, special needs parenting, writing transcripts and more.
We also have a growing resource library to help provide supplemental materials and curriculum for member families. For more information about membership, please check out the link below.
Christian Family Home Educators is a Christian, non-denominational, nonprofit homeschooling community dedicated to helping parents educate their children at home. We encourage and support parents who homeschool in Spokane Valley and surrounding areas by coordinating and facilitating academic, informational, or social activities that are beneficial to homeschooling families.
Since 1987, CFHE has been a resource and support for Christian homeschooling families throughout the Inland Northwest.
As the needs of homeschooling families have changed, CFHE has tried to adjust and adapt to meet those changing needs.
Now, rather than parents gathering together to help with the process of home education, our focus is on building a vibrant and dynamic Christian homeschool community in Spokane. We're trying to help get the word out about opportunities that may be of interest to Christian homeschooling families in the Spokane/Couer d'Alene area. We host a monthly Mom's Night Out and student assemblies through the school year, but we are not a co-op. Rather, we're a growing community of parents who love Jesus and have decided to intentionally direct the education of our children at home. If you have a co-op that is accepting new families, let us know! We'd love to help get the word out.
In line with our goal of encouraging Christian homeschooling families, we host an annual Chrisitan homeschool conference. After a break for a few years, we're back on track with hosting one of the only Chrisitan home education conferences in the Inland Northwest. We feature local and nationally recognized speakers with experience in home education, special needs parenting, writing transcripts and more.
We also have a growing resource library to help provide supplemental materials and curriculum for member families. For more information about membership, please check out the link below.
HISTORY
The year 1987 marked the 200th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. It also marked the year of the official “birth” of what came to be known as "Valley Home Scholars."
The idea of a Valley support group was conceived when several of the founding member families became acquainted while participating in an area-wide Homeschool Choir. Washington State “legalized” a parent’s right to home educate in 1985, so many parents who had previously been homeschooling rather clandestinely felt more at ease to seek out other families and began to form support groups. Although there were a few support groups in the larger Spokane area, only one specifically Christian group met. So, the desire was that a Christian support group be formed that would serve the Valley area.
It was decided that the group would meet once a month after studying a pre-determined common topic. Our very first meeting was in September 1987 with the learning topic of the U.S. Constitution, in honor of its bicentennial. The students gave individual reports on what they had learned; afterward, the families spent time in fellowship and getting to know each other better. As word spread regarding our group and the idea of homeschooling became more accepted, VHS began to grow.
It became apparent that we would need an official name, so a contest was held for the students to come up with a name. Valley Home Scholars was the winning submission of Christopher Smith (son of Lee and Diane) and his prize was a $5 gift certificate to a local bookstore.
The survival and success of any group is dependent upon the willingness of its participants to make it happen. Most families were eager to see the group successful and contributed time and resources to make it so, whether volunteering to produce a newsletter, secure a meeting place, organize a field trip, contact a guest speaker or keep members informed of the ever-changing political/social landscape.
Although the group was still relatively small and close-knit, it was evident to one member in particular of the need for a newsletter to keep the membership informed and in communication between monthly meetings. That member was Kelly Walkup, who published the first issue of the Acorn in August 1990.
It also became apparent the group had need of structured leadership, so a board was formed; the next obstacle to overcome was the need to become a corporation. After research and with the help of a member dad who was an attorney, Valley Home Scholars became a tax exempt corporation in 1996.
Another “first” for VHS was the celebration of its first graduating class. In June 1993, a ceremony was held to honor our five new graduates.
In 2011 the board of VHS began praying about the mission and vision of our group and we all felt very strongly that it was time for our name to change. We wanted something that would reflect our ministry today.
Christian: We are first and foremost a Christian group, honoring and serving our Triune God is our first priority.
Family: Secondly we are families. We believe family is a priority.
Home: We educate our children at home.
Educators: Finally, we are educators.
The transition to this Chrisitan Family Home Educators or CFHE began on December 1, 2011.
Our name may have changed, and the face of homeschooling has changed, but the mission of Valley Home Scholars as envisioned by its founding member families more than thirty-five years ago remains the same—to support and encourage Chrisitan homeschooling families in the Valley and surrounding area as they raise their children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord.