Building Bridges to Success in Homeschooling
... 21 years of encouraging workshops for homeschoolers ...
A Revival in Education
Homeschooling is the most exciting movement in education today! It's not exactly new; up until 1850 most children in America were educated at home. But the past 25 years have seen a revival in homeschooling, and now between two and three million children in the United States are learning at home.
Millions of families around the world are demonstrating the successes in education that come when parents assume the primary responsibility for educating their children. Over 80 independent studies, often by public education departments, have shown that homeschooled students typically score up to 30 percentile points higher on standardized achievement than their public school counterparts, and the longer the students are homeschooled the bigger the difference.
Workshops that make a difference ...
"A must for home-schoolers, The ABC’s or A to Z for home schoolers."
Michael S
a dad new to homeschooling
"The workshop answered every question I’ve heard, had and probably would have had once I began concerning home schooling. Hank Tate offered practical information, sensitive insight and experienced wisdom, seasoned with a sense of humor."
Debbie S
a mom new to homeschooling
WELCOME
Educational Support Foundation
We focus on encouraging and empowering parents to create the ideal school for their child at home!
Hank Tate, Executive Director
Since the establishment of the Educational Support Foundation in 1985 as a 501(c)(3) we have focused on providing workshops and other support information that encourages and enables parents to launch and maintain successful homeschools. Our "How to Homeschool Successfully Beginner Series" of workshops have helped thousands of families around the United States discover the joy of seeing their children develop academic excellence and leadership character in the face of a growing educational disaster in U.S. public schools.
Following our own start in homeschooling in 1984, we have been blessed with the opportunity to serve in homeschool leadership in Houston and Texas since 1985. We've had the joy of watching from a front-row seat as homeschooling has grown at a breath taking 15-20% per year, or more. When we first started we knew only one other family that was homeschooling. Now estimates place the number of homeschoolers at more then 2,000,000 in the United States.
History of Homeschool Workshops
Beginning in 1987 with the overwhelming response to our first beginner workshop on homeschooling at the first Gulf Coast Home Education Conference in Houston, Texas, God gave us a burden to help and ecourage new homeschoolers. We have been in awe to see God's hand at work as he has allowed us to present over 250 workshops with attendance exceeding 25,000. His grace is reflected so very often as we hear parents stop and thank us 10-15 years later for the role our workshops had in changing the future of their family through homeschooling. We have laughed with surprise and joy to discover that some long-time homeschool leaders in Houston have said that "Hank Tate is the grandfather of homeschooling in Houston" because of how many thousands of families have gone through the "How to Homeschool Successfully Beginner Series" workshops in Houston. Glory only to God!
This site exists because God has burdened our hearts to make available, FREE, to parents everywhere the "How to Homeschool Successfully Beginner Series" of workshops for new homeschoolers, along with other workshops that we've been able to provide as encouragement to existing homeschoolers. Our prayer is that God will use the workshops and other resources here to challenge and encourage many more families who are facing the intimidating prospect of taking responsibility for the education of their children. It is scary, but we believe that you will follow the footsteps of thousands before you who have walked out of our workshops saying not only, "I CAN do this! I CAN homeschool my own children", but also convicted that "I MUST do this for the future well-being of my children!"
Free Homeschool Workshops
- You will find the following workshops provided:
- Why Homeschool?
- The 1,2,3s of Getting Started
- How to Homeschool Successfully
- Burnout: How to Avoid It!
- Discipline: You Can't Succeed Without It!