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Home School Association |
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After much deliberation our board has reached a difficult decision. We have held a conference for 25 years but have reached a point in our history that we will no longer be hosting our annual conference. SETHSA wants to be fair to both our exhibitors and attendees. Through the years of planning, we recognize participation, by exhibitors & attendees, is a choice. Unfortunately, homeschool family attendance has fallen significantly over the last few years and many homeschool families have indicated that they are now able to meet their curriculum shopping needs at the book stores, online, or at other venues. Attendance to workshops alone is inadequate. Thus, too many exhibitors had indicated their decision, based on the falling numbers, not to attend. We have always tried to be good stewards of the money our organization receives from each year's conference. With the number of participating exhibitors at an all time low, we also recognize that the expenses accompanying the anticipated conference would probably not be met even with additional cutbacks. With only a portion of our normal exhibit hall filled, we know that the number of attendees and exhibitors would drop even further. It would not be fair nor honorable to expect exhibitor nor attendee participation in a conference which had such limited benefit. We wanted to make everyone aware of this board decision as early as possible so anyone considering attendance could avoid unnecessary interruptions of busy schedules as well as avoid costly arrangements. It has been a true pleasure to meet so many companies & their reps over the years. It has also been a wonderful blessing to meet, interact with and support the homeschool families in southeast Texas and the surrounding region. It is with great sadness that this era of ministry for us is over. SETHSA will continue to support homeschoolers & homeschool activities in every way possible as we connect with homeschool families across our region. | ||||