The Apostolic Home School Festival
History
As part of home schooling their two sons, Steve & Carol Ryerson participated in the annual Ohio-Indiana ACTS (Association of Christian Teachers and Students, UPCI) Student Convention in Millersport, Ohio, now held in Lake Placid, Indiana. Their elder son, Tom, was the first home schooler to participate, and they were well received by the Christian schools, as were the several other home school families who participated. The home schoolers fared very well in the competitions.
When CHEO (Christian Home Educators of Ohio) started Showcase, a one day performance and static display event, the Ryersons also participated in that. It was always a highlight for them as they participated in the events and talked with friends from around the state with whom they had become friends through the years.
Yet, their hearts yearned for something that specifically targeted Apostolic home schoolers. They looked at the two events they were involved in and knew a niche was not being filled. The ACTS conventions was geared toward Christian school students. They saw aspects of it that did not fit home schoolers' lifestyles and goals, and realized it would never have a large home school presence. Showcase was tailored for home schoolers, but it lacked the comradery of the Apostolic community.
Steve talked with Bro. Gary Trzcinski, Ohio ACTS director, and shared their burden to start a specifically Apostolic event that would combine the positives in both of the existing events. Bro. Trzcinski, while saying that his own schedule was full and he had no time for an additional event, gave his blessing to Steve and Carol to go ahead with their desire.
The Ryersons were seeking to organize a family-oriented event that would allow families to work together in some categories. They were also seeking a way for participants to receive positive feedback on their work that would help them to improve in the future. They also knew from their own experience as a pioneer Apostolic home school family that the need for fellowship was strong.
With much prayer, along with consultation and input from Arthur and Julia Vanderhoff of Hartford City, Indiana (who also participated for a number of years in the ACTS Convention), the Ryersons went to work writing the guidelines. Because of the involvement of many home schoolers in Bible Quizzing, finding a date that would work for both Indiana and Ohio home schoolers was a challenge. Thus, the first Saturday of November was established as a good time. Bro. Richard Collins, pastor in Dublin, Ohio, was sympathetic to home schoolers and very graciously agreed to host the Festival in the Dublin church facility.
The first Home School Festival took place on November 4, 2000 with 71 people in attendance. Enthusiasm was very high at this new and unique event. God's presence was there in a great way.
After the program, pizzas were brought in for a dinner and fellowship time. A continuing feature of the Festival has been the desire to linger and fellowship as long as possible.
After this first Festival dinner, Jeff Robinson from Toledo came to the Ryersons and said that as the manager of a restaurant, he could get food for a nice meal such as spaghetti at a very reasonable price. They chose this as the best option for a time. Janice Schroder from the Dublin church, was a tremendous help the next couple years cooking the dinner and overseeing the serving of the meal. Eventually, it became more feasible for the Ryersons to buy the food locally and prepare it themselves.
Knowing that human nature dictates people will generally not continue to strive for their best without some added incentive, it was Steve & Carol's desire to institute judging that would be criteria based. Participants would be judged according to the guidelines, not against each other.
In 2002, some categories, for which they knew they had competent judges, were judged and in two years they were able to secure judges for all areas. Patti Hollaway, from the Dublin church, has volunteered her time to judge the signing for the deaf. All other judges have been parents.
2003 brought a big change to the Festival. Out-of-town participants were coming to Dublin on Friday evening and wondered if there was some way they could connect that evening. Bill and Stacy Carpenter and Tom and Tracy Carpenter volunteered to oversee this new aspect of the Festival. Under their leadership, with much work on the part of Stacy and Tracy to prepare food, an unstructured Friday evening fellowship at the Dublin church facility was instituted. This has been a much appreciated, relaxed time for adults and young people to fellowship and children to play together. Friendships that have been formed through previous Festivals and conferences are renewed during this evening. New participants have the opportunity to assimilate.
As the Ryersons' home school ministry was expanding, God led them to separate from ACTS and form the Apostolic Home School Network. With that change, the Festival became a sponsored event of the Network in 2006.
2007 brought another change. God was leading Steve & Carol out of Ohio to western Kentucky. They knew that the Festival needed to stay under local leadership. Their home school ministry was continuing to expand, they were preparing to move, and they were also helping their ailing parents. With the Ryersons acting as advisors, the two Carpenter families organized the Festival.
After the Saturday dinner that year, a meeting was held to determine the future of the Festival. Tom and Tracy Carpenter, Marysville, Ohio; Bill & Stacy Carpenter, West Mansfield, Ohio; and Steve and Lucynda Hentschel, Shelbyville, Michigan; agreed to form a committee to officially take over the Festival.
Excitement was high for the 2008 Festival when just a couple days prior to the event an emergency necessitated cancelling it. Disappointed, several Indiana families who had planned to travel to Ohio for the event quickly rose to the occasion and proceeded to host a smaller version of the Festival in Muncie, Indiana. God greatly blessed this gathering.
As the Carpenter families realized they were unable to make the time commitment to continue organizing the Festival, God began talking to Arthur & Julia Vanderhoff about taking that position over.
Now living in Greenwood, Indiana, the Vanderhoffs are diligently working on the 2009 Apostolic Home School Festival which will be held in Indianapolis.