Last Friday, April 11, 2008, was Home School Day at the Capital here in Colorado. What a great event! Some from our home school support group (Abiding Home Schoolers) went. My dear husband stayed home with the twin boys since it was going to be a cold day.
We met at a local light-rail station around 9:15 a.m. It was cold! The wind was blowing and there were snow flurries. To make it a little more challenging, one of the machines to buy tickets from wouldn't take $20 bills. But we all managed get our tickets. We waited in the bridge over the highway to stay out of the wind.
It was a 30 minute ride to downtown. We got off at the California and 16th street stop. We were going to catch the free shuttle to head towards the capital, but the bus was too full for our whole group, so most of us walked. It was good exercise.
As we approached the capitol building, we saw the 10 Commandments Monument. It is a slab of marble 3 or 4 feet high with the Commandments engraved on one side. It almost looked like a headstone. Then we walked over to the replica of the Liberty Bell - without the crack. We took a few group pictures, and then one of the dads who was with us prayed for our day.
Next we went into the capitol building. Only the north entrance was open. We had to have our belongings x-rayed, and walk through metal detectors. The inside is beautiful. The marble is impressive. (My dd said it reminded her of a castle!) We saw several displays put together by home schooled children. We walked through those, and then went upstairs. On the second floor we saw paintings of each of the Presidents of the United State. From the second floor you have access to the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. There were probably 35 lobbyists hanging out around the doors.
Finally, we went up to the third floor. Here is where you have access to the balconies overlooking the chambers. We so happened to go into the Senate balcony when they were reading HJR08-1022, Concerning Recognition Of Home Education Day In Colorado. It was joint resolution. It passed the Senate 34-0. It was God's timing that we arrived to hear the resolution read and see the voting on the resolution.
The rally on the west side of the capitol was at 12:15, so we decided we needed to eat lunch. We went outside to the northeast side of the capitol building. It was windy, but the sun was starting to appear between the clouds. The kids played in the grass, and then we went over to the west side.
We were standing near the front of the crowd. There were several speakers: Ed Roach, Kevin Swanson, Rep. Lundberg, Treon Goossen, and someone from Summit Ministries in Colorado Springs (I can't remember his name). It was inspiring to hear how far homeschooling has come in 20 years. Also, with the recent rulings in California, it was a good reminder that we need to stay on our guard. I was disappointed, though, not to see anyone from the press, especially since we had so many people there. I scanned the local news web sites later, and there was no mention of
the resolution or the rally.
After the rally, we headed down to the Pillar of Fire Church for the Future Statesmen workshop. The kids learned about the 3 different types of government described in the Bible (family, church, and civil), what the responsibility of each is, and examples of good and bad civil government. The kids really got a kick out of the skits.
When we got out of the church, the clouds were back, the winds were picking up, and snow flurries were starting again. Brrrr. So, we walked back to 16 Street, caught the shuttle bus to Stout Street, and then our light rail train home. The train was pretty crowded on the way back, so several of the kids had to stand the entire ride back.
All in all, an exciting and educational day - worth the extra effort to go.
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