ARCH - Apostolate of Roman Catholic Homeschoolers

It is only a matter of time before the question comes up to any ARCH board member... “So why should I become a member of ARCH?” or “What has ARCH done for me?”   I won’t try to answer for all the ARCH board members, I can only answer for myself.  And as one of the few board members (Laurie Main, you beat me!) with many years of serving I would like to look back a little to my homeschooling past. When I first started to homeschool almost 20 years ago, Catholics were not really homeschooling.  It was much more of a Protestant led movement.  Catholic curriculum was hard to come by and the internet was not readily available as it is today.  If you were not blessed to have a Catholic friend to show you the ropes, or help you with curriculum you were really out on a limb.  Imagine how excited I was to find ARCH, Al and Vickie Clements, and other generous souls who cared about homeschoolers in general and not just “their homeschool”.  Those kind folks gave me the world, gave my family a better future and enriched us for generations to come.  So what, you say?  That was then, this is now.  Times are different, homeschooling is not underground, we are tripping over homeschooling resources, stores, vendors, services; the list is long.  Colleges love our kids and are seeking out our children for enrollment.  Well I say, think for a minute, how we got here.  Groups like ARCH have made paths for future generations to follow.  They worked on getting curriculum available by hosting fairs and making positive inroads for our benefit.  Today ARCH is working on the next steps in the path.  Colleges are seeking out our children for enrollment and our children’s work deserves to be noticed.  But who was the one going to the colleges, talking to college admission officials, asking them to overlook old rules like “class standing” or “teacher recommendations on school letterhead” or “official state” issued transcripts?  ARCH was.  Our conference is a bargain too.  Have you looked at the fees charged at other Catholic Homeschool conferences?  Their entrance fees are $35 per person or more, while the ARCH conference fee is only $15 for a family pass, as little $5 for the same pass for a member.  That is your dues at work.  This low cost is also due to the 10 year relationship ARCH has established with the University of St. Thomas; they see the value of homeschooling.  ARCH hosts teaching efforts 4 times a year including workshops for parents to update themselves on new standards and skills to assist them in being successful in their mission.  All this is in addition to the scholarships we sponsor and hosting a chapter of the National Homeschool Honor Society, (btw, one of our board members was a founding member of that national movement) after repeated refusals to grant homeschoolers membership in the National Honor Society.