Rally Day 2023

Rally Day Activities Celebrating Home Education! 

A Call to Homeschool Families: Take the Good News about Home Education to your Legislators

House of Representatives, State Capitol Building, Nashville, TN 37243

TN Home Schoolers Capitol Hill Rally & Legislators Reception Day

Rally Day, the Day on Capitol Hill hosted and sponsored by TN  Home Education Association, www.tnhea.org, for Tennessee homeschooling  families to bring the good report of home education to our elected  law-makers. It is very important for our lawmakers to see their  home-schooling constituents and to learn about the strength &  vibrancy of home education in Tennessee!  Join homeschoolers from across  our state on Capitol Hill for Rally Day!  We’ll gather for our Rally in  the historic House of Representatives Chamber (see below) in our  Capitol Building for a celebration of home education.

Meet Kevin Boden, Esq., new HSLDA Attorney for Tennessee, as he joins us for Rally Day 2023!

Kevin and his wife, Wendi, became homeschooling parents in  2008, when their oldest child was in first grade. Now, many years later,  they continue to home educate all eight of their children.

 Kevin  graduated from Wheaton College (IL) and received his J.D. from Seattle  University. Prior to joining HSLDA, Kevin served on active duty in the  US Air Force for 10 years as a Judge Advocate, which allowed Kevin and  Wendi to homeschool in three different countries and five states. Kevin  has served three years in the Alaska Air National Guard and continues  his service as a drill-status Guardsman.

As an HSLDA Staff Attorney, Kevin serves as the primary  contact for members in 12 states, including Tennessee. He is a strong  Christian who is passionate about the freedom to homeschool and the  blessings of being a dad. He also enjoys running, (almost) all things  outdoors, and spending time with his family.

The Legislative Plaza across  the street from the Capitol Building, covered with fountains and  bordered on one side by the historic War Memorial Auditorium and Office  Building which was built to honor Tennessee's WWI veterans.

Our State Legislator's Offices and Committee Rooms are in the Cordell Hull Building.

 The Rally 

We will have our Rally in the beautiful and  historic Tennessee House of Representatives Chamber in our Capitol  Building. We will have access to the House Chamber floor and the two  galleries on either side of the Chamber for our Rally. We are connected  to our lawmakers and their offices in the Cordell Hull Building through  an amazing, beautiful 92' underground tunnel.

 Our Tennessee House of Representatives Chamber in the Capitol  

Our Rally will take place in the House Chamber.  Following the Rally, Chick-Fil-A box lunches, which must be pre-purchased here, will be available for families to share lunch down the hallway in the historic and gorgeous Legislative Lounge.

Homeschooler’s Lunch – PRE-PAY ONLINE 

Lunch for home school families attending Rally Day will be  served from tables in the beautiful Legislative Lounge just down the  hallway in the Capitol from the House of Representatives Chamber  immediately following the Rally in the Auditorium.

There are four choices of Chick-Fil-A Box lunches, all include chips, cookie and bottled water.

To see the Homeschooler’s Rally Day lunch menu and to place your order, click here.

Legislators Luncheon on the 8th Floor of the Cordell Hull State Office Building

THEA will serve a luncheon to all the legislators and their staff in the Conference Rooms on the 8th Floor  of the Cordell Hull State Office Building, just off the elevators. A  homeschool group of parents and teens will represent us as they serve  our guests, our Tennessee State law-makers, their staff, the State  Troopers and other support staff.

Home School Day on Capitol Hill!! We need you there! Don’t Miss it!!

We look forward to seeing you there!

For parking in Nashville, see map1 or map2 with information about the garages and surface lots.

Student Congress:

The Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress Overview

In conjunction with THEA’s Rally Day, our chapter devoted to speech and debate activities for home schoolers, Christian Communicators of Tennessee sponsors  the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress Tournament. In the Davy  Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress, homeschooled students are  lawmakers in a mock Congress setting where they participate in each  session based on a basic knowledge of parliamentary procedure, the  standard protocol of legislative bodies. This event also allows students  to develop their speaking and presentation skills, and their logic. It  also causes students to become aware of current events and develop a  Christian response to these events.

Here is the website for our Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress tournament.

Student Congress teaches  and trains students in the basic procedures by which governmental bodies  within a Republic operate whether a City Council, County Commission,  State Legislature or the US House of Representatives and Senate. It is  an exercise in applied Civics.

This is a fun and  challenging opportunity for students to develop research, logic, and  speaking skills in a large group setting, often defined as an individual  debate in the context of a large group.

Student Congress is an  activity for both new and experienced students. Students new to Congress  find it a great introductory step into the world of speech and debate  in a fun group setting. Experienced students hone their skills of  presenting evidence in a concise, yet persuasive way, along with  strengthening their logic and argumentation skills.

Christian Communicators  of Tennessee, CCT, sponsors this homeschool Student Congress in  conjunction with THEA’s Rally Day at our Tennessee state Capitol. There  are two divisions of students participating. The Junior Varsity, ages  8-12, have one session on Rally Day. Their Congress concludes following  their Awards Ceremony.

The Congress Round for  the Senior Varsity students, ages 13 + up, takes place in the Senate  Chamber of the Capitol Tuesday afternoon following the Rally for all  home schoolers in the House of Representatives Chamber and a lunch  break. A Chick-Fil-A catered lunch takes place down the hall in the  Legislative Lounge of the Capitol when the Rally concludes. Chick-Fil-A  catered lunch can be ordered at this link beginning January 2, 2023.

The Congress Round for  the Junior Varsity students, ages 8-12, takes place in the Legislative  Lounge following lunch for homeschoolers. The Legislative Lounge as  mentioned above is just down the hallway from the House of  Representatives Chamber, site of our morning Rally.

Preparation for CCT’s Student Congress

Prior to Tuesday's  Congress sessions, students research and write their own pieces of  legislation, both bills and resolutions, written in keeping with our US  Constitution, dealing with issues they are interested in and about which  they would like to discuss and debate in their congressional sessions.  These are issues they determine will better the society in which we  live, just as our state and U.S Senators and Representatives. In the  Student Congress tournament, student-legislators speak in favor or  against the student-initiated legislation based on their research and  preparation using proper parliamentary procedure. Instruction and  information covering the details regarding Student Congress are  available on  Student Congress website at  https://studentcongress.hoeschooldebate.net.

The bills and resolutions  written by the students are vetted, by the Student Congress Tournament  Director and are posted on the Student Congress website for students to  review, research and study.

To debate and discuss the  bills and resolutions, students review them determining their position  on the issues involved, study the issues, and then find, prepare, and  bring evidence to support both a Pro and Con position. The reason it is  helpful to gather evidence on both sides of an issue presented in a bill  or resolution is so that you have the opportunity to speak regarding  bills or resolutions that are heavily supported on the opposite side of  the issue. Students use parliamentary procedure to make motions and  propose amendments, as they debate, clarifying their position and  advocating for or against the bills, amendments, and resolutions.

Judges score each student  legislator based their presentation and argumentation ability  (organization, content, logic, and documented support), speaking  technique (oral and physical presentation and style), knowledge of  parliamentary procedure, and overall participation, i.e. their number of  times to speak on legislation. Judges use our Student Congress Ballot  to record their evaluation of the students presentations. A link to the  Student Congress Ballot is on the Student Congress website.

In each session of Congress, the  Tournament Director or one experienced student will act as the Presiding  Officer directing the discussion, debate, and voting in the Chamber.  Preparation is definitely facilitated by learning about parliamentary  procedure. On the website at the Student Congress Overview Tab there is a  link to a Table of the Most Frequently Used Parliamentary Motions and a  link to an Easy Chart of Parliamentary Procedures. Robert's Rules of  Order is the definitive book on parliamentary procedure.

More Info?

Historically, since 1985 THEA's Capitol Hill Rally &  Reception Day, Rally Day, is the vehicle THEA has used to present the  good news about home education to the Legislators of Tennessee.   It is  THEA’s signature legislative event.

The event is simple in a certain sense. Homeschooling  families come to Nashville, our state capital, to meet the two  legislators who represent you, your State Senator and your member of the  Tennessee House of Representatives.  Every person in Tennessee has one  State Senator and one House of Representatives member.

THEA encourages every home school family to attend Rally Day  so our legislators see that we want them to know what we are doing and  so that when they vote on legislation, they will be thinking about you,  your family, and your children, whom they represent.

Homeschooling families have used their freedom to educate their children well. According to the National Home Education Research  Institute, www.nheri.org "The  home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above  public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests."

The Tennessee Home Education Association leadership and  membership has watched this track record of success since the beginning  of the modern homeschooling movement in the early 1980's. THEA is  passionately active in advocating to protect, defend, preserve, and  expand homeschooling freedoms in the Great State of Tennessee. THEA  promotes expansion of our freedoms with our state legislature so  families can home school with greater freedoms.

Thank you for working hard to develop a wise, peaceful,  healthy family.  Come join us once a year for Rally Day to meet the two  people who represent you in your State of Tennessee government, plus  you’ll meet a lot of other freedom-loving, homeschooling people, too.