Public Service Annoucement: Second Annual Torah Home Education Conference

The Second Annual Torah Home Education Conference will take place on June 13, 2010 from 8 am – 5 pm in Baltimore, MD. There are childcare options for infants – age 3, a day camp for children ages 4 – 10, and a teen girls get together for ages 11 – 17. This is the only event of its kind taking place anywhere in the country, and will be just one day, so don’t miss your chance!

The schedule and brief bios of speakers are below, and if you want more info you can visit http://jewishhomeschooling.wordpress.com/ or be in touch with one of the contact people listed at the bottom. Please share this with anyone you know who may be interested!

Second Annual Torah Home Education Conference Schedule
8:15 registration

9 – 9:15 – Introduction – Mrs. Avivah Werner- “The Road Less Traveled”

9:15 – 10:15 -keynote speaker – Rabbi Daniel Lapin- “And You Shall Teach Them to Your Children – Does it really mean what it says?”

10:25 – 11:15 -
a) Mrs. Susan Lapin – “Life After Homeschooling – What does it look like?”
b) Mrs. Yehudis Eagle – “Teaching Tefilla (Prayer): More than Technicalities”

11:25 – 12:15 – general session - Rabbi Bamberger- “The Challenges In Our Yeshivos”

12:20 – 1:50 Lunch (enjoy fellowship over lunch in the Eating Together Room, browse curriculums in Center for Jewish Education)

1:55 – 2:45 pm -
a) Mrs. Avivah Werner – Home Education on a Shoestring
b) Mrs. Chana Lazaroff – Home Education for the Special Needs Child

2:55 -3:45 -
a) Dr. Ezra Hendel – Teaching Chumash and Rashi
b) Mrs. Malky Adler – Minimizing Outsider Syndrome (women only)

3:55 – 4:45 – general session -
Rabbi Simcha Feuerman – Home Education: The Way of the Future

4:45 – closing
In alphabetical order is a brief bio of our speakers:

Mrs. Malky Adler is the mother of nine children living in Detroit, MI and has been home educating for six years. Her children range in age from infant through high schoolers. She will talk about the challenges of homeschooling when living in a community that views you as an outsider because of your unusual education choices and how to effectively deal with that.

Rabbi Bamberger is an experienced educator with over 25 years of experience. He has served for five years as a high school principal, teaches ninth grade limudei kodesh, and is the rabbi of a shul in Monsey, NY. He has spoken nationally about various aspects of chinuch. He is now homeschooling his youngest child, and will speak from his experience inside the yeshiva system for two and a half decades about the challenges our schools are facing.

Mrs. Yehudis Eagle is the mother of 11 children, several of whom are grown, and has been homeschooling for over 15 years. She has an integrated and holistic approach to home education, and will speak about how to approach tefilla as a home educator.

Dr. Ezra (Russell) Hendel, A.S.A., has taught chumash to homeschooled children from the ages of 5 – 11 and produced over 400 worksheets. He has developed a unique and effective approach to teaching Rashi, is creator of www.rashiyomi.com website, and will give an interactive presentation to help parents teach chumash and Rashi.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, known world-wide as America’s Rabbi, is a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and host of the Rabbi Daniel Lapin Show on San Francisco’s KSFO. He is one of America’s most eloquent speakers and his ability to extract life principles from the Bible and transmit them in an entertaining manner has brought countless numbers of Jews and Christians closer to their respective faiths. In 2007 Newsweek magazine included him in its list of America’s fifty most influential rabbis. Rabbi Lapin will be our keynote speaker for the conference and will talk about the Torah view of home education.

Mrs. Susan Lapin now is involved full-time in the her husband in his business and writing endeavors, after years of homeschooling their seven children. She is a wealth of practical knowledge regarding home education and family life, and is now the grandmother of children who are being home educated. She will be traveling from Seattle, WA, to share with us her experience and long term perspective on transitioning from home education to schools, yeshivos, seminaries, and college.

Mrs. Chana Lazaroff is the mother of two married daughters and two sons with Down’s Syndrome. She has been home educating them from birth, drawing on her background as an occupational therapist but even more from her ongoing learning about how to help her children reach their potential. She will speak to us about home education for the special needs child.

Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R maintains a private practice specializing in high conflict couples and families. In addition, he serves as Director of Community Mental Health Services at Ohel, and as President of Nefesh International. He is the author of 2 books, numerous professional articles, and along with his wife, a weekly column in the Jewish Press on matters of family relationships, religion, education and psychology. He has also home educated two of his children and will share about creating a dynamic limudei kodesh curriculum and his belief that home education is the way of the future.

Mrs. Avivah Werner is the founder of the Torah Home Education Conference, founder of J-LIFT, a Baltimore area homeschool group, moderator of Torch-d, international listserve for Orthodox homeschoolers, and frequently blogs about home education at www.oceansofjoy.wordpress.com. She has written about home education for national and local publication, and has been home educating for ten years. The oldest of her nine children will be graduating from homeschooling this June. She will share about how to make homeschooling effective without breaking the bank.

For registration – Alisa - apmandel@yahoo (dot) com, or 410-963-2977; or Sara – srayvy@yahoo (dot) com. The advance registration fee is $25 per person, $40 per couple until May 1, 2010. After that, the regular pricing of $50 per person, $90 per couple will apply. So don’t get so busy with Pesach preparations that you miss your chance to save big by registering in advance! You can go to http://jewishhomeschooling.wordpress.com/ for more details.

**We are incredibly fortunate to have the speakers of the caliber we do, and realize that there will be interest in attending from those who aren’t Jewish or interested in homeschooling. As much as I hate to disappoint anyone, this conference is open only for Jewish homeschooling families, or Jewish families interested in homeschooling.**