Christian Home Educators of the Sandhills 2023-2024 Handbook Statement of Faith. We believe the Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God and constitutes His complete and final revelation to man and is the best rule by which to live. We believe that there is only one living God and His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Statement of Purpose. Provide support and resources for the Sandhills Christian home school community. CHES Government. CHES is a registered, non-profit organization governed by a board whose members are nominated and elected from the CHES membership by the board. A board member will uphold the CHES statement of faith, have home schooled for at least two years, abide by North Carolina home school laws, and is a CHES member in good standing for at least 1-2 years. They must demonstrate leadership qualities, a willingness to serve and an ability to work as a team. The CHES board will maintain the finances of CHES, record and keep notes of board decisions and CHES meetings, coordinate the email loop, maintain the website, receive and update membership, oversee coordination of CHES activities and field trips including the book and unit studies, and generally vote on all decisions that affect the group as a whole. CHES Government President: 1. Responsible to provide leadership and direction within the organization. 2. Sets agenda and presides over meetings. 3. Ensure activities comply with CHES guidelines approved by the CHES board. 4. Trains the next president. 5. Must have served on the CHES board at least 2 years. Vice-President: 1. Must have served on the board at least 1 year. 2. Assist the president in carrying out duties. 3. Preside over meetings when the president is absent. 4. May become president when the president leaves office. 5. Welcomes new members with a phone call or personal contact. Secretary: 1. Maintain membership records. 2. Maintain and update CHES directory. 3. Keep written minutes of board and general meetings. 4. Liaison between the CHES Board and the website service provider. E-mail/Events Coordinator: 1. Manage e-mail loop both for general purposes and unit study. 2. Coordinate the calendar of CHES events for the purpose of planning. Treasurer: 1. Maintains checkbook and reconciles monthly. 2. Receives payments to CHES. 3. Makes disbursements of funds as approved by the board. 4. Submits tax documentation at the end of each school year (fiscal year) as necessary. 2 Non-Board Positions (Non-board positions will be overseen by the CHES Board) Unit Study Coordinator: 1. Set the schedule for classes for the unit study 2. Fill all teaching/assistant positions 3. Secure the unit study facility 4. Church and classroom set-up before study begins 5. Find substitutes in the event of teacher absence 6. Makes sure facility is clean after each day of study by assigning a clean-up team 7. Distribute and collect surveys. Field Trip Coordinator: 1. Coordinates regular field trips for CHES members. 2. Coordinates dates with the events coordinator calendar to avoid conflicts. 3. After verifying there are no conflicts the e-mail coordinator will send the information over the CHES email loop. Librarian: 1. Maintain listing of CHES materials 2. Be responsible for CHES library closet at Yates Thagard Baptist Church, including possession of the library storage key. 3. Send updated library listing to CHES in fall and spring 4. Will be contact person for those wanting to borrow materials Board Elections When there is an opening on the CHES board, members of the board will be selected in one of the following 2 ways: 1. Current board members may make a nomination from the membership which, upon the nominee’s agreement to serve, will be put to a vote of the board for approval/disapproval. 2. A member of the group may make a nomination to the board of a member by submitting the nominee’s name in writing along with the signatures of (5) supporting members to the board. The board will prayerfully consider the nominee and if approved by the board, the name will be presented to the entire group for their approval/disapproval. The board reserves the right to refuse a nomination, but will give explanation for its reasons. Disagreement with a decision of the board should be submitted in writing. Terms of Office The board members serve at least one year with the option to rotate off the board at the end of our fiscal year. Deviations from a one year term of service are handled individually at the board’s discretion. New board members will be nominated by the board and voted on for approval. There is no limit to the number of years that an active home schooler may serve on the board, providing the member remains in good standing. Officers of the board will serve one year per election. Elections will be held at the end of the fiscal year. The president and vice-president may not serve more than four consecutive years in any particular office, but may be elected to a different office. Elections for officers require a quorum (75%) of the board present. A simple majority will constitute election. 3 Board quorum The board will meet quarterly or more as deemed necessary. If the board consists of less than 5 members, all members must be present to constitute a quorum. If the board contains 5 or more, 75% attendance will constitute a quorum. A simple majority will carry or defeat a motion. Membership Requirements CHES membership is open to persons who: 1. Home educate at least one child, or have pre-school age children who will be home educated. (NCDNPE* allows someone outside the household of an established homeschool to provide academic instruction to homeschooled children. In this situation, CHES requires membership for each family of homeschooled children (both the student’s family and the instructor). The family of the student(s) must be a member of CHES regardless. 2. Abide by North Carolina home school laws 3. Submit an application for membership to CHES 4. Pay the annual dues, or have dues waived by the board 5. Agree with the CHES Statement of Faith and to abide by CHES requirements and guidelines. 6. CHES is a member-run organization. Therefore, all members are strongly encouraged to actively serve in some capacity. Members must abide by the NC home school laws, including but not limited to, registering with NCDNPE and maintaining attendance records, immunization records and the yearly testing and evaluation for each child enrolled in school. Any members who fail to comply with the above requirements may be asked by the Board to make the necessary amends to keep their membership current. Failure to do so will rescind their membership and their dues will be refunded. As of now we all enjoy the freedom to Home School in North Carolina and abiding by the State law will not only safeguard those freedoms for the future but also protect our members in case of any “audit/check” by the State. *NCDNPE states: North Carolina law defines a home school as a non-public school consisting of the children of not more than two families or households, where the parents or legal guardians or members of either household determine the scope and sequence of the academic instruction, provide academic instruction, and determine additional sources of academic instruction. General Statute 115C-563(a) as amended changes the definition of a home school to allow parents to hire tutors, let their children participate in group settings where they receive instruction (co-ops, 4-H classroom instruction, etc.) and be instructed by an expert that is not a part of the household in the established homeschool (apprenticeships, a homeschool doctor teaching biology, etc.) This will allow homeschool parents more freedom to choose what is best for the education of their children. 4 Membership Benefits CHES members will receive: 1. The right to participate in CHES sponsored activities. 2. Membership roster. 3. CHES handbook. 4. The opportunity to contribute to information contained on the CHES website. 5. Access the password protected areas of the CHESgroup.org website. 6. Access to the Christian Home Educators of the Sandhills Facebook page. CHES membership guidelines 1. Parents and children are expected to show respect at all times to individuals leading, teaching or speaking during a CHES-sponsored activity. This includes listening attentively, maintaining silence while someone else is speaking and asking questions only after a raised hand has been recognized. * 2. At least one parent is required to attend all CHES functions attended by their children and to assist when needed. The parent needs to be continually on site throughout the time of the activity. One family may be responsible for only one other family’s children at any given activity after obtaining prior permission from the activity directors. Parental attendance and participation are mandatory for all unit studies. Certain activities such as drama rehearsals may relax this stipulation at the discretion of the director of the activity. 3. Parents and children are expected to present the highest standards of behavior when attending any CHES event, representing Christ in the best possible way by exhibiting respectful behavior, dressing modestly and without distraction and refraining from offensive language, refraining from inappropriate touch, and making no displays of romantic affection between students. All members must honor their God-given identity revealed in their biological sex by presenting as and living consistent with that sex. This includes and is not limited to dress and bathroom usage. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union. 4. CHES membership is required for participation in CHES sponsored field trips, activities, and unit studies. 5. CHES dues as well as activity or unit study fees must be received by the payment deadline for the particular activity. CHES dues are not prorated. 6. The membership roster including names, telephone numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses may not be given to anyone outside of CHES nor used for promotion of any opportunity or product deemed educational or otherwise. 7. Members who cannot participate in the e-mail loop are responsible for securing an ‘e-mail’ buddy who can relay important information contained in the e-mail loop to them. 8. During CHES activities, members are discouraged from engaging in fund-raising or solicitation for events or programs not directly related to CHES. *Parents are responsible for their children’s behavior. If the child refuses to follow these guidelines after appropriate warnings, the leadership reserves the right to ask the parent to remove the child from the activity. Failure to abide by the above guidelines after appropriate warnings may result in dismissal from the activity or from CHES by a vote of the board. Field Trip Guidelines 1. 3 Strike Policy: If a member has signed up for a field trip, but does not show up without cancelling with the coordinator, they will be put on a 3 Strike list to be maintained by the field trip coordinator. If this happens three times, the member will no longer be eligible to attend field trips planned by CHES Field Trip coordinators for the remainder of CHES’ fiscal year. Neither will the member be able to schedule a field trip through CHES for the remainder of the fiscal year. 5 2. Field Trips Involving Money: a. A member will not be registered for a field trip requiring money, until the coordinator has the members money in hand. b. Money must be received by the coordinator in the manner in which requested. No special accommodations will be made for those who fail to mail or submit payment on time. c. Late Arrivals: All members registered to attend a field trip, who have not taken proper procedures to cancel with the coordinator should be at the planned event at the specific time set forth by the field trip coordinator. Coordinators will not wait past the set time for entrance into or the start of an event. d. Members must register for the current field trip by the deadline set forth by the coordinator. No Exceptions! e. A member will not be registered for a field trip unless they contact the field trip coordinator directly, not replying to the email loop coordinator. f. All members are personally responsible for reading and following the conduct guidelines set forth in the CHES Handbook. Furthermore, children should be under parent supervision at all times. Children should not be running, climbing or horse-playing within the facility during the event. Clubs and Events For a club or event to bear the CHES name, it must have advance CHES Board approval. Once approval has been received, participants in CHES clubs or events are required to be CHES members. All fundraising should be handled by individual clubs. Due to the tax status of CHES, no funds will be circulated through the CHES account for individual club fundraising. Conflict resolution Each member is expected to resolve any conflict with another member immediately, Biblically (Matthew 18) and directly with the person involved. If there is no resolution after attempting to resolve the conflict Biblically, a grievance may be submitted to the CHES President in writing, who will bring it before the board for discussion. The board decision will then be communicated to the concerned individuals. We STRONGLY discourage members discussing their personal matters publicly, especially in relation to another CHES member or other members of the community. Gossip of such nature is detrimental to the unity of the group and thus is strongly discouraged. In addition, this type of activity is a poor reflection of the group which should be Christ-like in character. Members who persist in such behavior may be asked to leave the group in order to maintain unity and order within the group. Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Matthew 18:15-17 Guidelines for information posted to the E-mail loop These guidelines are established to better serve CHES members by informing them of matters pertinent to home schooling and/or CHES. 1. You must be a current CHES member to receive the e-mail from the CHES email loop. If a member doesn’t have e-mail or doesn’t want to receive e-mail from CHES, he will need to obtain an ‘e-buddy’ who will be willing to inform him of all information, changes, etc. which are sent. 2. Each member is responsible to notify the e-mail coordinator of any changes in his e-mail address. 6 3. Posted information a. It must be CHES related homeschooling information that would pertain to or benefit the CHES members. b. Anything in question is sent to the board for approval. c. The email should contain a clear subject in the subject line. d. The email should be written in such a way that it can be forwarded without the facilitator having to rewrite. e. The email should contain all details with a clear point of contact. f. Official CHES functions will have “CHES” in the subject line. g. Information being forwarded to the group will have “FYI” in the subject line. h. CHES is not responsible for the quality, content, etc. of any other non-CHES functions. i. E-mails are sent blind copy. j. E-mails and attachments are filtered through an anti-virus program. k. Please post those announcements on the Facebook page in addition to the email. Funding Requests: CHES members who will incur expenses in the course of conducting CHES business or acquiring materials for CHES may request funds by submitting in advance the request to the Board. The member must state in writing what the funds will be used for and how they will benefit the CHES membership at large. Some of the common guidelines that must be considered before submitting a request for funding are: 1. Is this available free of charge elsewhere? (i.e., library, free software etc…) 2. Is this going to benefit majority of the CHES membership? 3. Is the material in keeping with the Christian principles under which CHES operates? The membership funds are limited and though every effort will be made to provide funds for the common good of all, under some circumstances, the requests may be denied. The Board will provide an explanation for their decision. Approval of the funds must be obtained prior to the purchase and the Board must be given a minimum of two weeks to consider the request and make an informed decision. The Board, however, reserves the right to approve/disapprove of any funding requests. If you disagree with the decision, grievances may be submitted to the Board in writing. Revisions to the handbook The handbook may be revised by any member submitting a revision proposal, in writing, to the board. This proposal must have the backing of 5 other members and must not violate the group’s Christian integrity or principles. Upon submission the board will discuss and vote upon the proposal and a report made to the member as to the outcome of their proposal. Changes to the handbook must be approved by a simple majority of the board. The CHES Board is also free to make changes to the handbook as the need arises. Changes will only be made with the consensus of the majority of the board. Also, by my signature, I grant that I agree with the CHES Statement of Faith and that I have read and will abide with all requirements and guidelines in the CHES handbook.