Local Home-School Co-Op Wraps Up Semester with Mock Hearing for CSI Class

CHESS (Christian Home Educators Support System) has been in existence for three decades. The home school Co-op consists of parent-led classes offered on a semester basis, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. Each semester is 9 weeks long with classes held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Victory Baptist Church in Copperas Cove, a home the group is quickly outgrowing, says Alaina Frederick, CHESS Secretary. There are 93 families currently enrolled from several local counties, including Lampasas. On average, each family has 4 kids enrolled, Alaina included, with 4 of her 5 boys attending regularly. CHESS accepts children from the nursery all the way to high school senior, but families must have at least 1 school-aged child enrolled at all times.
A look at the curriculum for CHESS shows how they’ve managed to grow so quickly. Though there are several classes offered regularly each school year, such as life skills like baking and grammar, oftentimes, the students have a voice as to which classes make the cut – they speak up and their parents show up to support those passions. And not all who join CHESS need participate in the class work. Alaina says many families join for the opportunity to meet up with other homeschoolers in the area for field trips, outings, graduation events and even Prom, which the Co-op celebrated last night for the 2023-2024 school year.
We had an opportunity to sit in on the last class of the year on Friday, April 12th, a CSI class taught by Cheryl Feinberg, CHESS teacher of 7 years. Cheryl offers the class at least once a year, with the goal of exposing students to laboratory skills and the overall scientific process, with lots of hands-on experiments. To this end, each semester students are presented with a murder case they must investigate, analyze and solve, with the objective of building a case solid enough to obtain an arrest warrant. This year the students were in for a real treat, as local Judge F.W. Bill Price volunteered his time to hear their cases. Price is the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 2 in Coryell County, as well as a Copperas Cove Municipal Court Judge, which means he magistrates for Lampasas County cases as well. With 30 years of experience under his belt, the students were hard-pressed to find a better evaluation of what they’d learned. Judge Price remarked that he was greatly impressed with their cause of death report, analytic theory of what “probably” happened, and use of forensic instruments for measurements of the physical evidence. “A medical examiner’s report is usually gibberish,” laughed Price, “but I could read theirs. By and large these kids did a great job.”
After the hearing, we spoke with three young ladies who presented their investigation to the judge, Seniors Serenity L. and Millie C., both lead investigators of their respective cases, and Sophomore Katie B. As we spoke, they described in detail the skills they needed to learn to build their cases, including DNA analysis, serology (the study of bodily fluids), chromatography and handwriting analysis. It was clear all three girls enjoyed and participated whole-heartedly in the class, and all were grateful for the “real-life” opportunity to present their work and earn the arrest warrant (which both classes did successfully). Serenity, a Lampasas resident with hopes of a career in Law Enforcement as an Investigator, expressed her gratitude to Judge Price for volunteering his time: “It was a real honor meeting the Judge and getting to experience the actual issuing of a warrant.” Katie remarked that they all knew there’d be a mock investigation, but not that there’d be an actual judge to present their case to and convince. She has hopes to become a Paramedic in the future, while Millie wants to become a Florist (a well-rounded one at that!). From theater production to mock hearings, fellowship to career development, CHESS has continued to produce well-rounded members of our community and invites everyone to follow their journey as it unfolds. - MG

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