“My husband went to work one morning with no signs of illness, and that was the last we saw him alive. We had no warning that the Lord was going to take him home that morning. The Lord blessed us with a good spiritual family, besides my loving physical family, so we were immediately surrounded by loving arms and helpful hands.

“When I was putting the children to bed that night, one of their biggest concerns was that we would have to stop homeschooling and I would have to go to work. I reassured them that nothing was going to change right away and the Lord would provide for all of our needs.

“The provision of money for curriculum through your scholarship has been such a blessing in allowing me to really consider our homeschooling needs without worrying so much about what we can afford.”

This is the story of the Hernandez family. Linda Hernandez was left with eight children to raise after her husband unexpectedly passed away. She turned to the Home School Foundation to provide money to purchase her homeschool curriculum. She is one of hundreds of widows who have been helped since the founding of the Widows Fund in the year 2000. Many of these widows could not continue homeschooling their children without financial help, and the Home School Foundation has been blessed to be able to provide that assistance for many families.

The Home School Foundation is a charitable nonprofit organization established to help homeschoolers in need. In addition to the Widows Curriculum Fund, the foundation has also established funds to assist children of single parents, families that have children with special needs, fledgling international homeschool organizations, and a general compassion fund to help in disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina. Primarily through the generous giving of homeschoolers, the foundation has been able to fill in the gap for families to make the difference in whether they can actually homeschool.

These generous donors are motivated to give because of two important principles in their life. First, they believe very strongly in the value of home education. They see the benefits in their own family, and they know those same benefits could be transferred to thousands of others willing to take on the responsibility of teaching their own children. Second, they are motivated by compassion for others who are less fortunate than they are. It is the generosity of the donors that makes it possible for the Home School Foundation to be a conduit of blessing to the needy homeschool families across America and around the world.

For example, Cathy J. in a letter expressed her thanks to our generous donors. “Today I returned from having my 12-year-old son tested by a Perceptual Motor Therapist to find your check in the mail. On the way home, I felt so overwhelmed by the financial burden of having a special needs child. When I returned home and opened your check I felt a different kind of overwhelmed. God is so good! Thank you for your generosity!”

Through the foundation, homeschool families will continue to experience the blessings of home education that would be outside their reach. The Home School Foundation is uniquely positioned as the only charitable organization that is focused almost solely on the physical and spiritual needs of homeschool families. It is indeed a privilege to be able to assist the widows and orphans in their time of need as this is true religion.

For more information on the Home School Foundation, please visit www.homeschoolfoundation. org.

Michael Smith is the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He may be contacted at (540)338-5600; or send email to media@hslda.org.

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