Hello to all!

My name is Lisa Bell-Johnston and I am introducing The Independent Distance Education Academy of New Mexico (IDEA-NM). The mission of the Independent Distance Education Academy (IDEA) of New Mexico program is to provide resources and support to parents who have elected to educate their children in their home or in another alternative setting.  As leaders of Homeschool groups for the state or your area, I personally invite you to attend and share this exciting opportunity with the families you support!

Staff from IDEA-NM will be hosting informational meetings throughout the state the week of August 21st thru August 26th. These meetings are great opportunities to come hear about the program in detail and ask any questions you have.  We have planned meetings in Socorro, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Artesia, Roswell, Clovis, Moriarty, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque.  If you have suggestions for meeting sites in these areas I would appreciate any input offered.  Meeting locations will be secured by August 17 and area meeting times and locations will be posted on the http://www.idea-nm.org website and in local newspapers.

Feel free to  forward this information to any family you know who  may benefit from a program such as IDEA-NM, and don't hesitate to contact me personally with any questions or concerns that you have with regards to  IDEA-NM and how we can serve you.  If you've already heard of the program ( maybe you know homeschooling families in Alaska, Idaho or serving in the military on the Pacific)  and are ready to  enroll, that can also be done directly through the website.

Thank you !!

Lisa Bell-Johnston
IDEA -NM
davelisa@mtaonline.net

From CAPE Action, dedicated to protecting, defending, and preserving home education.
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Very Urgent Information and Action Alert



Headline

Government Home School Program (oxymoron alert!) to be

Introduced in New Mexico THIS WEEK –

Serious threat to home school freedom!

Please review the following information carefully AND PRAYERFULLY!

Details

An apparently innocuous series of meetings is scheduled in Socorro, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Artesia, Roswell, Clovis, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, presenting IDEA-NM to home schooling families.

(Many state support groups have already been contacted by this government agency.  We have NO IDEA how they collected your group’s information.  IT ABSOLUTELY WASN’T FROM CAPE!!  We strongly suggest that you look into it.)



CAPE is familiar with this particular program, and we have seen its devastating effect on the Christian home school community in other states, particularly in Alaska and Idaho.   Briefly…



At inception, the freebies, computer and curriculum stipend, were completely free from government oversight.  Single income home schooling families found the program nearly irresistible.



THEN…AFTER the families got used to the computers and the stipend, they began eliminating Christian textbook suppliers.  Then they refused to reimburse families for any Christian curriculum material.  But by then, it was too late.  The state with the best home school law in the nation lost the momentum to protect, defend, and preserve the true freedom of home education.



Christian home education is defined as:

*      Christ Centered

*       Parent Directed

*       Home Based                

*       Family Funded



IDEA-NM or Government School at Home

*      Home Based    



SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS IDEA-NM?

(Quoting directly from their website http://www.idea-nm.org, bold and italics are added by CAPE for emphasis.)              



THEY SAY:

“IDEA of New Mexico brings a fresh approach of mutual trust among parents and schools in New Mexico, by honoring parental choice in curricular materials and instructional methodology, yet providing support and accountability based upon the needs of each and every individual child.”

WE SUGGEST:

“They can only honor parental choice that rejects the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”



THEY SAY:

“The mission of the Independent Distance Education Academy (IDEA) of New Mexico program is to provide resources and support to parents who have elected to educate their children in their home or in another alternative setting. Our objective is to build and foster a community of learners which views education as not confined to the traditional four walls of a classroom, but a free-flowing exchange of knowledge and ideas worldwide through technology.”

WE SUGGEST:

Their mission is to draw home schooled students into the Christless culture of government education and transfer control of home education to the public school system.



THEY SAY:
Program Benefits

There are many benefits for families enrolling in IDEA of New Mexico, including but not limited to:

·                     Be treated with the respect you deserve as your children's primary teacher!

(WE SAY:  You’re choice is respected only as long as you agree with their program)



·                     Certified teaching staff assistance as needed

(WE SAY:  If certified teachers are all that more effective, why is the public school system a shambles?)



·                     Computer provided for home use

(WE SAY:  If Jesus is Lord of your home school, will you sell the soul of your home school for a free computer?)



·                     Curriculum standards (meets or exceeds state and national standards) and assessment for grades K-12

(WE SAY:  Why would we lower home school standards to meet state standards?)



·                     Required standardized testing provided

(WE SAY:  What if we don’t like your tests?  “Required” doesn’t say much for parental choice.)



·                     Be able to use your choice of curricular materials, provided they match the student's Individual Learning Plan (ILP).

(WE SAY:  In other words, use whatever you choose, as long as it’s what we choose for you.  And how will they know without evaluating your child?  In your home or their school?  Either option is intrusive and unacceptable.)



·                     Access to allotment ($1,000 per student) from which the school district will purchase non-doctrinal educational materials for students, including texts, art supplies, science kits, software, educational games, and more! Allotments amounts are reduced after the official start of school and eliminated after December 15 for the current school year.

(WE SAY:  If you won’t sell the soul of your home school for a free computer, perhaps $1000 in curricula is the incentive you need.  But don’t think about it or pray about it too long.  Decide now or lose out!

Do you remember how hard we fought to separate ourselves from the authority of the local school district?



Conclusion:

If you want a man-centered, government-directed, home-based, taxpayer-funded education for your children, this may be the right program for you, but you won’t be home schooling.  Your student will be enrolled in a government-controlled home-based school.



HOWEVER!  If you value Christ-centered, parent-directed, home-based, family-funded Christian home education, this could never be the right program for you!



Many home school families are crystal clear about their goals, and won’t even think twice about this new, improved, gold-plated government carrot.  But many of our fellow home schooling families will be tempted by it.  They need to know the truth!



Please, please forward this email to as many home school families and friends of home education as possible.



And please pray that eyes will be open, ears will hear, and that no one will be deceived into thinking they can serve two masters…



“ …choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served…or the gods…in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15



The CAPE Action Board of Directors

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CAPE Action

P.O. Box  3203

Moriarty, NM 87035
info@cape-nm.org

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