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Apple Pie Day Quick Links: Things to Do on Apple Pie Day The Oregon Capitol is a busy place on Apple Pie Day. It's like a large openhouse for homeschoolers at the Capitol. You won't want to miss it.You may click on the links below to jump to the activity you are interested in, or you can scroll through the page in order to read about all the exciting opportunities happening on Apple Pie Day.
Make an appointment with your legislators It's simple. . . . Here's how it works:
 Our legislators are citizens just like you. You do not need to be intimidated when you visit them. They are, however, very busy people. You should keep your appointment to 10 to 15 minutes. If they stand up, you know that is your signal to take your leave. Legislators like to hear from their constituents, but make sure you respect their time. Read Tips on Visiting Your Legislators for more ideas on what to do during your appointment.Can you bake an Apple Pie?  Bake a pie (or two) and bring it to the Hospitality Room, HR 50, in the basement of the Capitol between 8 and 10 a.m. We need a total of 120 pies. While some families bring their pie with them, others travel from too far. Still other legislators do not get visits from families from their district, and we need to take pies to them. We need lots of extra pies. If you can bake a couple of pies to be used on Apple Pie Day, contact Amber Smith via email at
or text her at 503-248-7262 to arrange to bring them to Apple Pie Day.Visit the Home Educators' Hospitality Room Hearing Room 50 in the basement of the Capitol (follow the signs) will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 11th as our Home Educators' Hospitality Room. Sign in at the table in the Hospitality Room before you visit your legislator; get a schedule; and orient yourself to the Capitol. Get your pie wrapped, pick up some tips on visiting your legislator and a Home Education Freedom Works sticker to wear. If you sign in early enough in the day (before 8:30 a.m.), you can have Courtesies (greetings) to your family read into the Legislative Record by your Representative or Senator. After 2 p.m., the Home Educators' Hospitality Room will be upstairs in Room 350.  Join the Apple Pie Day Noontime Rally Join together with hundreds of other home educators from across the state and bring your family to participate in the bi-annual Home Education Rally. We will hear from Oregon legislative leaders and Oregon home school leaders. Be inspired by our special Statewide Home School Choir. The noon-hour rally will be held on the front steps (on the Court Street side) of the Capitol Building, beginning at 12 noon. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Capitol and move to the Capitol steps by 11:45 a.m. Let's make history together! Have your student sing with the Statewide Homeschool Choir  Homeschool choirs and individuals from around Oregon are invited to join together to provide musical entertainment for this year's rally on the Capitol steps. The music this year will include:
Be Thou My Vision (verses 1, 2 & 4) Children must be 7 and older. The choir will gather to practice on May 11th at 10:00 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 770 Chemeketa St. NE, Salem (just 2 blocks north of the Capitol). Choir should wear any combination of red, white, and blue. (No t-shirts, please.) If your student is planning on singing in the Statewide Homeschool Choir or if you have questions contact: Dallas Dubke 503-881-1084 or Holly Butler 503-269-1425 (text) Legislative Classes - "Home Education Freedoms 101" Tj Schmidt, the Home School Legal Defense Association lawyer for Oregon, and members of the OCEANetwork Legislative Team will be teaching the hour-long Legislative class at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in room 350 at the Capitol. Learn how a bill becomes a law, receive training for meeting your legislators and find out the latest on the homeschool bills. This class is appropriate for the whole family and will you feel more confident when you visit your legislators. Then at 3:30 p.m. Tj Schmidt will hold a Legislative Forum with questions and answers (Room 350). Tour the Capitol and Supreme Court  OCEANetwork has prearranged several fun, informative tours for you to enjoy on Apple Pie Day. The Capitol Building Tour describes the legislative process, the history of the Capitol and the Capitol Building. The Capitol Tower Tour will go through the legislative process, some history of the Capitol and take families up the tower to the base of the golden pioneer. The Supreme Court Tour educates about the judicial process and history of the Court. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. To sign up for a tour, please contact Jodi Newland by email at or phone her at 503-829-8734. You may also sign up on Apple Pie Day, but please note, tour times are on a first-come, first-served basis, and they fill up quickly. Have your older students be Apple Pie Day Guides We need some older students to be guides for homeschool families. They will stand at strategic places in the Capitol to answer questions, give directions to homeschool families and run errands for the Home Education Week staff. Contact Timothy Perkins at 503-569-9048 (text) or email him at to volunteer for a 2 hour shift minimum. (We can always use additional help.) Volunteer to help in the Homeschoolers Hospitality Room We need lots of volunteers on Apple Pie Day. We have to sign in homeschool families, wrap apple pies, deliver pies, keep refreshments available and keep the room picked up. We need lots of hands to make Apple Pie Day work. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Wes or Deborah Butler at 503-873-3159 (message), 503-932-0514 (text) or email them at Have your older students serve as Honorary Pages Students 12 years and older can spend a day serving as Honorary Pages in the House or Senate. These students receive a briefing on the legislative process and Oregon's history, become oriented to the Capitol, and run errands for legislators. Visit the Oregon Legislature's Honorary Page website for details on how your student can sign up to be an honorary page. When making application, let them know that you are a homeschooler who will be in Salem on May 11th as part of Home Education Week in Oregon and that you would like to serve as an Honorary Page. These opportunities fill up fast, so sign up soon. Visit the Oregon Legislature's Honorary Page website as soon as possible. Study Oregon with your family Apple Pie Day provides a good reason to study about Oregon with your family. Betsy Ray and Susan Buck have written an Oregon Study Guide for OCEANetwork. The main guide by Betsy Ray contains ideas for study, questions to spur deeper thinking, lists of books, web sites and field trip possibilities. The unit study by Susan Buck is designed to focus the disciplines of learning (reading, writing, science, etc.) on the topic of Oregon. The Oregon Study Guide can be used by all grade levels with the parent adapting the work to the age and abilities of the student. Even if you don't use the complete study guide, you will appreciate the list of field trip possibilities and information on how Oregon government works just in time for your trip to Salem on Apple Pie Day. Here's what one mom said about the study guide:
Enter the Apple Pie Day Photo Contest - Win your choice: a Family Pass to the OCEANetwork conference or a $25 Starbucks card Make memories; take pictures; and enter your best shot into the OCEANetwork Apple Pie Day Photo Contest. We'd love to see pictures of your children giving a pie to your legislators or enjoying one of the tours. The person that takes the winning picture will receive a free family pass (2 adults and 3 children) to the Oregon Christian Home Education Conference in June or a $25 Starbucks card. Three ways to enter (choose the easiest way for you): 1. Post your photo or video to the Apple Pie Day Facebook page: facebook.com/homeschoolfreedomworks/. 2. Post your photo on Instagram with the hashtags #ApplePieDay2017 #HomeschoolFreedomWorks #oceanetwork #HomeEducationFreedom #homeschooloregon. Use the hashtags so we can find your photos and enter them in the contest. 3. E-mail your digital photos to . Enter by May 31, 2017. Photos will be judged on content, composition and clarity. OCEANetwork reserves the right to use any and all photos entered in the contest in OCEANetwork publications and on the Internet to promote Apple Pie Day. Dress Up! Families often wonder how they should dress and behave while in Salem. Quiet, polite, friendly behavior, and dresses, skirts or nice slacks for girls and ladies and shirts and ties for men and boys are appropriate. Parking City Parking Passes: The $15.00 passes are sold in Basement Room 49 at State Capitol. These passes may be used in any metered parking spaces within the area defined on the back of the pass. They allow you to park all day. Metered Parking: There are 2-hour and 10-hour visitor meters located around the Capitol which are approximately $1.50 per hour (cards or change). See You There! In addition to all the activities listed above, OCEANetwork staffs a table in the Galleria of the Capitol where we hand out information about home education to the public and give everyone "an apple from the teacher." We hope to help legislators and the general public understand how well home education works!. These efforts take many hours of volunteer time. OCEANetwork has assembled a dynamic committee to spearhead this effort: Wes & Deborah Butler, Dallas Dubke, Holly Butler, Jody Newland, Timothy Perkins, and Amber Smith. We wish to thank them for their devotion to home education freedoms. But Apple Pie Day would be nothing without the dedication of home educators from around Oregon. You make a lasting impression on your legislators when you travel to Salem to meet them. Together we can make the difference that will ensure continued freedom for all Oregon home educating families! Sponsor Home Education Week Home Education Week in Oregon is a huge undertaking. Help fund this event. You can donate online or send your tax-deductible contributions to OCEANetwork, PO Box 262, Wilsonville, OR 97070. Your contributions will go far toward protecting home education freedoms in Oregon.
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