CHEEF ANNUAL MEETING
August 21st, 2025
"But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one." 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Welcome! We are so glad you have decided to join us this year! C.H.E.E.F (Christian Home Educators Enjoying Fellowship) was established almost 30 years ago for the purpose of encouraging one another in their Christian homeschool journey. Today, our goal is the same. In a world that is full of utter depravity, let us encourage and support one another to keep on training our children in the fear and admonition of the LORD. Clinging fast to his word and knowing that he who began a good work will see it through completion.
I encourage you all this year to not homeschool by your own strength. But to turn to the one who created your children and who loves them more than you. May we look back at this school year and see how much we've been able to grow as mothers and teachers through being faithful in our prayer lives and spending time in The Word.
I am so excited for this new year and look forward to seeing our group grow together in fellowship and unity with one common purpose: to homeschool our children in faithfulness and love and point them to their creator each and every day.
Steps to Join
- Read and sign the Member Agreement. Your signature shows that you are in agreement with the Statement of Faith, Code of Conduct, Sick Policy, and Volunteer Agreement.
- Pay membership dues: $35.00 at the time of the meeting, or $45.00 anytime after August 21st, 2025.
- Checks can be made out to CHEEF.
- If mailing a check and signed member agreement, please send to Kaitlyn Gildenmeister, ATTN: CHEEF, 5168 County Road 177, Clyde, Ohio 43410.
- Request membership at www.homeschool-life.com/oh/cheef/ using the request membership button.
- For questions or concerns regarding membership, please reach out to [email protected].
What does the membership fee cover?
CHEEF is a not-for-profit group run completely from volunteers. Membership fees cover a variety of expenses including website hosting, parties, metropark programming, miscellaneous fees, and annual meeting expenses. Some field trips incur additional out-of-pocket fees not covered under your membership fee.
Leadership Team
CHEEF is comprised of board members and an activities team.
The purpose of the board is to ensure our group stays a Christian 501(3)C. We meet together a minimum of 2x a year to discuss policies or procedures related to the CHEEF group as a whole. If there are questions or concerns of a legal, spiritual, or ethical nature during the year, please send a message to [email protected].
Our activities team meets together a couple times a year to plan events for our group including field trips, academic enrichment, Physical Fridays, parties, and Mom's Night Out. If you have any questions or ideas regarding these items, please send a message to [email protected].
2025-2026 Board Members and Activities Coordinator Team
- Kaitlyn Gildenmeister - Co-President/Treasurer
- Carlie Andres - Co-President
- Mary McSherry - Treasurer
- Alyssa Chambers - Secretary
- Jennifer Yost - Advisor
- Jo Towler - Activities Coordinator Lead
- Melissa Clapp - Field Trips/Theater
- Melissa Bauman - Physical Fridays
- Leagh Pepon - Academic Enrichment Classes
- Carlie Andres - Moms Night Out
- Emily Hale - Parties
- Alyssa Chambers & Keyla Sweeney - Hospitality
What We Offer
Field Trips
We offer numerous field trip opportunities throughout the year. All field trips are first come, first served on the Homeschool Life website, and some have limited availability. Although we try to schedule free events, some field trips have associated costs. September field trips will open on August 28th. All other field trips will open 2 months before the field trip date.
Field trip policy
We understand last-minute cancellations due to illness. However, please be courteous and cancel ahead of time if you run into a scheduling conflict so waitlisted individuals have an opportunity to sign up.
Academic Enrichment Classes
We offer two sessions of Academic Enrichment in the fall and spring. The cost is $20 per child per session. Fall session times are 9:30am-1pm. Spring session times are 10am-1:30pm. Classes are held every other Friday. Fall classes will be held at First Church of Bellevue and spring classes will be at Calvary Baptist Sandusky. Class offerings may vary slightly between sessions but include areas such as art, music, gym, literature, and nutrition. For more information or additional questions, please reach out to Leagh Pepon.
Moms Night Out
As homeschool moms, it's difficult to find time to refuel ourselves. Moms Night Out is a once-a-month gathering for moms to develop friendships and nurture relationships with other moms and is held somewhere different each month. It could be a game night at a house, dinner at a restaurant, or anything in between. We hope you'll make time to join us each month.
Physical Fridays
On Fridays adjacent to Academic Enrichment classes, we like to get together for an activity. Activities vary but may include dodgeball, hiking, skating, bowling, or ice skating.
Parties
CHEEF hosts two big parties a year that are always a blast. Be sure to mark these dates down: Christmas Party - Friday, December 5, 2025; Valentine's Party - Friday, February 13, 2026.
Hospitality
This year we will be implementing a hospitality group with a coffee bar, meal trains, prayer requests, and birthday recognitions.
HSLDA
Yearly membership with our group code is $135 instead of $150. Group code: 299963. Visit https://hslda.org/join and select yearly membership because the group discount code only works for yearly membership.
Paypal
We do not plan to use Paypal this year. Please make dues, fees, and other expenses by cash or check. We really appreciate your understanding.
Membership
Due to wanting to keep a close-knit community, we feel it is in the best interest of the group to limit the amount of members. We will cap memberships at 68 families for the 2025-2026 school year. New memberships will be thrown into a drawing to ensure things are handled fairly. Current memberships will be automatically grandfathered in.
Sick Policy
We will have a sick policy this year to ensure all families, including those with compromised immune systems, are kept safe.
Winner of the free CHEEF membership from filling out the survey goes to Erin Manner.