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SPRING 2018
HOMESCHOOL IOWA 21
A Crowd of People Represent Homeschool Iowa
BY: CHANTAE WARREN, age 10
I amnew to Iowa and had never seen the inside of the Iowa State Capitol until Homeschool Iowa Capitol
Day onMarch 13, 2018. I live in Henry County, Homeschool Iowa Region 18 and have been homeschooled
since kindergarten.
The Capitol was crowded and loud! It was inspiring to see so many other people who homeschool at
the Capitol. We met and talked to several people as we walked around and looked at all of the displays.
My brother and I really liked the model of the USS Iowa ship.
There were several speakers during Capitol Day. The first speaker was Governor Kim Reynolds who
gave an encouraging speech about how she feels about homeschooling. Governor Reynolds said, “I
want to see more homeschoolers involved with STEM.” (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineer-
ing, Math). At the 11am rally in the Capitol rotunda House Majority Leader, Chris Hagenow spoke about
the importance of everyone showing up for events like Homeschool Iowa Capitol Day, letting our legisla-
tors know that we care about homeschool laws in Iowa.
After Mr. Hagenow spoke we went to a church a couple of blocks away for lunch and the rest of the
speakers. Lunch was from Machine Shed
and it was very filling! Teen Pact then
did a neat skit about the process of a bill
becoming a law. After that Mr. Nathan
Oppman spoke about how important it
is to be a Christian when we talk to our
leaders. Next we listened to a Page who
is working at the Capitol talk about her
job. There were a few more things that
afternoon but we had to leave because
we had a 2 ½ hour drive home and we
needed to take care of our dogs, black
labs named Blaze and Storm.
I had a very fun and very educational
experience and am excited to come back
to Capitol Day next year!
An Early Start for Volunteers at Capitol Day
BY: ISAIAHWIELAND, age 11
Homeschool Day at the Iowa Capitol was filled with early morning starts, taking over the
Iowa State Capitol and serving our legislators.
My day started at 5:30 AM. I got up, got dressed and helped prepare breakfast for the legis-
lators. We left the house at 6:30 and picked up coffee from Friedrichs and chicken sandwiches
from Chick-Fil-A, then headed to the Capitol. When we got there we served breakfast to the
legislators and soon almost 700 homeschoolers were there to literally take over the Capitol.
The number of people there was amazing. We set up chairs on the beautiful Capitol floor
and listened to the Governor speak, after that I joined my friends and met their representative.
The crowds were so thick I could not get through in some places and had to find another way
around. After we packed up we moved towards the elevator. When we got in, of all people to be
there, was our own representative John Forbes. On the short ride down it was fun to talk to him.
Then we went to Walnut Creek Church for a Machine Shed lunch of everything imaginable
to eat. We listened to some more speakers and had cookies and coffee. After everybody left,
volunteers cleaned the church. We loaded everything into our car and headed home.
Throughout the day I never heard one complaint or negative comment about anything there. It was hard and I was tired at the
end of the day, but it was worth it. I had a great time and can’t wait until next year.
Capitol Day Through the Eyes of our Kids
We asked the children of a couple of our Homeschool Iowa volunteers to observe and report on Capitol Day 2018.