Mission Statement
HUUmans on the Web will be a voice for alternatives to traditional public schools and for school reform ideas that include homeschooling as a viable choice.

We will:

• build a directory of homeschool (and other educational) support groups that are inclusive and/or accepting of those who are often marginalized;
• provide information regarding opportunities for relevant regional gatherings;
• act as a resource for Unitarian Universalist Religious Education programs interested in supporting a more integrated whole-family educational approach;
• provide information about resources, curricula and other ideas that do not presume a specific religious agenda;
• develop publications that would be relevant to our group; and
• be a voice for Unitarian Universalist Homeschoolers within the homeschooling community.

Our Purpose
The purpose of HUumans on the Web is to share and develop resources for people wanting to connect with other liberal religious homeschoolers and those interested in alternatives to traditional educational methods. We want to support each other in the development of personal, ethical, philosophical and/or spiritual beliefs and to help each other with the censure we sometimes experience when we express our beliefs.

We believe that learning outside of the public school system is a viable educational choice that is compatible with Unitarian Universalist philosophy and would like to open a dialogue regarding the "school-structured" styles we find in most of our religious communities and in society.

Our History
In the summer of 1998, a group of people began a discussion on the Internet regarding the formation of a support and resource group for liberal religious families who homeschooled their children. Because we often face reprisals when we speak out in liberal circles about our educational philosophy, we felt we needed to be able to develop a way to support and articulate our position to other folks with liberal ideals. We also find that often our local homeschooling communities are not especially welcoming to those of us with liberal or alternative religious and political beliefs.

It became clear over time that attempting to form a grassroots organization over the Internet was a very difficult thing to do. When the founder of the group Homeschooling Unitarian Universalists and Humanists (HUUH) decided to disband, some of us set about trying to reorganize. The result was HUUKS (Homelearning Unitarian Universalists and Kindred Spirits). Again, a name change to HUUmans (on the Web, at Home, etc).

HUUmans at Home
HUUmans is a national support and outreach group that welcomes Unitarian Universalist families who may or may not be homeschooling as well as those who are interested in homeschooling but may or may not be UU. We offer a place where open minds can consider alternatives to traditional public education, and act as an educational resource center where we may share ideas, links, and resources related to education. We believe that learning outside of the public school system is a viable educational choice that is compatible with Unitarian Universalist philosophy, as well as with pagan, humanist, atheist, and theist beliefs and lifestyles.

Our support group operates on the UU principles and UU-centered philosophy that we will always respect and honor one another, encourage and help one another join our strengths to create a more just and open-minded educational community and build a supportive online community that brings us comaraderie and opens our hearts and our minds in ways we hope our children's hearts and minds will always be open.

We have an online support and discussion list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UUHomeschoolers/ and our website at www.uuhomeschool.org. Our most recent issue of our newsletter is now available

HUUmans Newsletter
HUUmans at Home is the quarterly publication of UU Homeschoolers
Visit us online at HUUmans on the Web at http://www.uuhomeschool.org
A UUA Related Organization
Member National Home Education Network
Member Rose Rock Inclusive Homeschoolers
Spring 2002, Issue 25

Contents reflect the views of the authors and are not necessarily those of any particular group of people.

The editor welcomes submissions of articles, letters, media reviews and other items of interest to our readers. Inquiries and submissions can be sent to: Terri at sparrow@tampabay.rr.com.

Rights to all submissions to this newsletter remain with the authors. Permission is hereby granted for homeschoolers to quote from this newsletter in whole or in part with the requirements that this newsletter is properly credited as the source, and that a copy of the quote is sent to the editor.

Spring 2002

It's a Brave New World
From the Editor

It's a new and exciting year for UU homeschoolers, as we go into 2002 with 130 members and growing day by day. On March 16, we held the first-ever state UU Homeschoolers get-together, LIFE Fest 2002, at First Unitarian Church of Orlando in Florida. Thirty families from across the state attended, and we enjoyed speakers ranging from Rosemary DuRocher of the highly acclaimed Florida Virtual School, to Pinellas County science teacher Doug Scull, who wowed attendees with the wonders of snakes and bugs. We hope to make this an annual event here in Florida, and perhaps inspire similar get-togethers in other states.

One of the more exciting results of LIFE Fest has been the creation of an inclusive state support group called LIFE of Florida (http://hometown.aol.com/foreverlerning/LIFEofFlorida.html). We have several affiliate member groups now, which are inclusive regional support groups that welcome an open forum for networking and sharing resources.

Our ever-expanding list of fascinating families at UU homeschoolers is mind-expanding as well, with discussion topics ranging from how to create "healing baskets" (reprinted in this issue) to curriculum comparisons and teen issues. Resources like February's Darwin Day and the Great Backyard Bird Count draw us together from our disparate corners of the country to work towards ends that serve us all.

It may also prove to be a new and exciting year for parent-directed education, as well. One new member told me recently that she had brought her daughter home, feeling disillusioned about giving up her "dream of good public schools." We may not have to give up that dream if we adjust our paradigm of just what constitutes an education in America, not just for ourselves and our families, but for those who guide education in America.

The Friedman Foundation is one organization working towards changing the educational landscape in the United States to embrace parental choice, whether that choice be public, private or home education. This is an issue UU homeschoolers has long been interested in as we've sought to look beyond homeschooling itself to the broader issue of individualized education that can take many and varied forms that don't always fit into any one category of learning.

And thanks to the generous contributions of UU Homeschoolers members, we covered the $50 cost of our "related organization" membership renewal with the UUA for a second year, and we continue to grow in esteem and acceptance among UUs everywhere. It's slow going sometimes, but we're going!

It's an exciting time to be a liberal home educator, and I'm looking forward to seeing homeschooling take its rightful place as the educational reform movement it is, instead of a special interest conservative clique. The dream of good public schools isn't dead . . . it's just being redefined!

In peace and continued freedom in learning,

Terri Willingham
Editor