The sound of coaches' whistles and grunts of linemen now fills the air. Fall practices have begun. For the homeschool athlete, several new options are available in many areas of the nation. More and more states are making legislative and regulatory reforms for the sake of the home-educating family.
  Many state legislators are spending millions of public education dollars in an attempt to win back the confidence of the millions who have turned to home-based education. Still other public institutions are delivering institutional resources to the homeschooling families who have made a strong argument that the money ought to follow the students, regardless of the family's disdain for the government schools' sad legacy.
  Among the increased local, state, & federal resources are:

• City & county park facilities for homeschool sports programs.
• State laws mandating that home-educated athletes may play for the public school team in their district.
• State & Federal funding of curriculum for home educators.

  While these new and expanding resources may be a huge help, especially for rural homeschool families whose athletic options are otherwise impractical or nonexistent; The vast majority of home educators prefer to be a part of a team which reflects not only their community, but more importantly, their family values and faith. The urban & suburban homeschool families are still far better served by becoming a part of the homeschool sports organizations.

   Homeschool Sports Organizations are continuing their legacy of development and "over-achievement". When a handful of volunteer dads and moms can coach a scattered bunch of kids to a level of parity & competitiveness with the large athletic departments of the public schools, they expose an embarrassing reality that institutional bureaucracy and employee indifference can stymy the development of the institutionalized child.
  Too often we hear scurrilous unfounded rumors from public & private school leadership which seeks to discredit the homeschool team. It is clearly devised to cover up for the wounded pride and career insecurity of the team that just got it handed to them from some start-up homeschoolers.
  The homeschool football nation has become strong and established over these past 10 years. In 2004 there were just a handful of homeschool football programs in America. Today we have information on 130 teams which have plans to field a team this year. Masses of additional programs are now opening their roster up to home-educated athletes. Entire state oversight bodies are now amending their charters to add accommodations to the benefit of homeschool football athletes. Countless division 1 & Division 2 NCAA teams have former homeschool athletes on their rosters. It wasn't that long ago that the NCAA treated home-educated athletes as high school drop-outs.
  Texas alone has 31 homeschool football teams. Their signature variant of 6-man football has been dominated by homeschool teams. But whereas 2 years ago there was just 1 eleven-man homeschool team in Texas, this year there will be 8 eleven-man homeschool organizations.
  Missouri added 2 more eleven-man teams. Michigan will probably have around 10 teams, as will Georgia. The Great Lakes states continue steady development. The East Coast and Southeast are very populated with homeschool football. The Delta region has an established homeschool conference. California has a solid 8-man league. There is talk in the South Central region of developing a 2-division conference ( more on that, later.)
Part Two will be published a few days after this address...

  The Freeman Scoring services of Maxpreps have crunched their numbers again, to reveal the top 20 homeschool dynasties in the nation. They compiled massive statistics from the past 5 years to come up with a dynasty power rating.
  Not surprisingly, the top 10 teams are all beginning their 2nd decade of homeschool football. These teams come from so many regions of the nation.
  Each of these teams' success is a tribute to the great leadership of a well-organized and broad base of parents who have made the kids a priority.

A few noteworthy names are conspicuously missing from this list and we really don't know where Dallas HSAA should be. Their 11year power rating is -9.1