Member Benefits
Belonging to any local homeschool support group has many benefits. Homeschooling is a unique club and it These advantages will vary depending on the individual group and the members of which it is composed.
Here is a very basic list of some of the benefits of belonging to GCHSA:
- Support, Friendship, and Encouragement Monthly Park Day Meetings, Mom’s Night Out, Service Projects Academic Fairs, Clubs, Co-ops and Field Trips planned by Gulfcoast Member volunteers. Lending Library Members-only secure website for: Online Calendar with sign-ups, Topic Based Discussion Forums, Classifieds, Photo Gallery, Family websites, Student Newsletter, Links, Articles and more.
Membership Dues
Request Membership
Prospective members can fill out the Membership Request Form on the GEH website. Once you request is submitted, someone from the leadership team will review it as soon as able and contact you as to the status of your request via email. Please note that acceptance to MT will be made after your first visit to a group meeting or function, and payment for the yearly membership fee is made. Membership is $15 per family. ***There will be a $20 charge for any checks written to Master's Touch that are returned as NSF.*** Once you are on the website, please take a look around (though, we admit it, there may be pages that are ready for updating, so ask us if there's any questions you have!), and feel free to join in forum discussions. Prompts at the top of each forum category thread give ideas for our forum usage and purposes, to help you begin your own threads. While social media provides a great way to connect (and we do have a Master's Touch facebook page as well), this is the place where we organize, plan, and communicate with exclusively with members. Thanks for joining! We look forward to getting to know you better.
Participation
To get the most out of your membership with our group, we encourage members to actively participate in group meetings, various field trips, classes and other offerings. Participating takes planning ahead, so keep an eye on your calendar and pencil us in! We want to welcome others to be a part of our group, not just partake of individual activities our group offers its members. You'll find great friendships for yourself and your family as you join with us this year! We thrive because most SHG families voluntarily initiate at least one or two activities per year. Activities can be simple and informal, or large and organization-intensive; they can be academically oriented or purely social. They can span the whole group or just a few families. There are many ways to contribute your energy and creativity to our common homeschooling enterprise. One of the best is to identify a need your family has — a playgroup for kids under 5, or friends to do science experiments with — and get the ball rolling within the group to meet that need. Come to park day and spread the word about what you’re interested in doing, or send out an e-mail, or write an announcement for the newsletter. Chances are, if your family stands to benefit from an activity, other families do too. If you are new to the group, feeling too overwhelmed to take on another thing, or just a little shy, relax! Take your time getting to know the other families of SHG. If you’re like the rest of us, sooner or later inspiration will strike and you’ll realize there’s a golden opportunity to pass on your hard-won knowledge of basket weaving, Broadway musicals, or taxidermy. In an effort to make this ministry as successful and fair to our members as possible, we are asking each member to volunteer their time and/or talents at various events, activities and/or duties throughout the year. We do understand that everyone's situation is different and will not be able to contribute the same, but hope that each member will desire to contribute in some way for the benefit of the ministry. We are so excited to see how God has worked through our ministry and membership over the years to bring many dedicated, talented and creative members to our group.
