Summarized by Kent Larsen

Home Educators Share Ideas at Convention
Salt Lake Tribune 11Jun00 D4
By Tony Yapias: Special to the Tribune

PROVO, UTAH -- More than 2,000 people participated in the 20th annual Utah Home Education Association convention at BYU over the weekend. Also at the convention were more than 80 vendors providing all kinds of educational materials. Most of the sessions were designed for LDS Church members that are home-schooling their children.

Brian Smith, chairman of the UHEA, estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 children in Utah are schooled at home. He also says that the practice is growing, "I hope that in the future we can be better organized and get better resources to reach out and portray home schooling as a very viable alternative to public and private education."

In spite of the association's orientation to Utah, attendees came from as far away as Washington state, Florida and Canada, many of them LDS Church members looking for ideas and products aimed at Church members. The reasons for parent's interest in home schooling their children vary from concerns over the academic progress of their children to concerns that their children get theological teachings.