When Homeschooling is Targeted

[MidnightCry]

Call me pessimistic, but I don't see Obama overlooking homeschoolers for very long. Just curious, what would you do if homeschooling is declared illegal during the next 4 years?

Move to another country?

Homeschool anyway and take your chances?

Enroll in private school?

Enroll in public school?

Other?

[lisaann]

This has been front and center in my thinking and prayers as well. :panic

I have no clue what I would/will do other than pray, pray, pray for the Lord to make our path clear to us. If things move quickly there may be no where to move to that would support it.

I can't see how the school systems could handle all of the homeschooled kids being dumped into them all at once. There are thousands and thousands of homeschooled kids!

God please protect us, you know we didn't approve of this. :pray

[OnTheHorizon]

There are public charter schools that let you do all your teaching at home or enroll in one or more of there classes.
You get a budget to pick your own curriculum. It can't be from a Christian publisher but if you want to spend your own money, you should be able to choose what you want.

[Reason&Hope]

Obama has made more statements against public charter schools than he has homeschooling - so I wouldn't put my hope in using charter schools.

If forced to, I might opt for Christian schools, but the ones I know produce some pretty snobby kids. My kids are old enough that if they were forced into public school, I would still be able to unbrainwash them at night.

[txmomof3]

With my children, we are just starting homeschooling and intend to complete their schooling in the manner. Fortunately, they are in 4th and 6th grade and they both are fast learners. I think we will be able to make short work of the rest of elementary and middle school and then move onto the high school subjects (where I want them to spend a majority of their time. I see them graduating around 14-15, so I have 3-5 years before I have to worry about laws. However, with Obama in charge, I may be asking for too much time.

[Cookies4me]

What Can We Expect under
an Obama Administration?

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends of Homeschooling:

Since the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, HSLDA has received more than a few calls from both members and nonmembers. Some are quite concerned about the future of homeschooling under an Obama presidency.

First of all, let us always remember that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). He also instructs us to be wise, plan, and be prepared in everything we do.

Despite HSLDA’s efforts prior to the election to get an official statement from the Obama campaign regarding their position on homeschooling, we received no response.

So where does that leave us?

We do know that the Democratic Party has an official position of supporting public education. The National Education Association (NEA), which is the national teachers union, is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. We know that the NEA’s position is that every child should be either taught by a certified teacher or supervised by one. Additionally, their position is that the curriculum used by all homeschoolers should be approved by the state, and children should only be able to continue to be homeschooled based upon systematic evaluation by the state.

It is important to remember that under the United States Constitution, the federal government has no authority over private and home education. This is not to say that they will not attempt to exercise authority in these areas. And whenever private educators accept grants and benefits, there are conditions to receiving those benefits, including being subject to regulation.

Just because the federal government has no constitutional authority over home education, however, doesn’t mean that federal bureaucrats or legislators might not attempt to impose some form of regulation over private and home education. We saw this back in 1994, when the reauthorization of the Secondary and Elementary Act (H.R. 6) contained an amendment which would have conditioned funding to the states for public education to require that all teachers be certified in every subject area they teach. The homeschool community rose up; over a million phone calls were made to the U.S. Congress, and the amendment was defeated. During that process, Representative Dick Armey from Texas introduced an amendment which stated that the federal government and Congress have no authority over private and home education. This protective language was passed by the House of Representatives.

With your help and the help of homeschoolers all across America, we will vigorously resist any effort on the part of the federal government to regulate home education. Obviously, this will take resources—which come from our membership—and we would encourage our current members to continue standing with us, and encourage others to join us.

An immediate concern to watch is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although we do not know what Barack Obama’s specific position on the treaty is, we know that future Vice President Joe Biden has publicly indicated that this UN Convention should be ratified by the United States.

It does appear that we will soon have the challenge of keeping the UN Convention from being ratified by the U.S. Senate, ratification requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.

Should the UN Convention be ratified, it would impose the United Nation’s view of children’s rights on America. Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties become the Supreme Law of the land, taking precedent over state laws and state supreme court decisions.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is not in the best interest of parents or children, as it would undermine the parental authority that our laws currently recognize. For further information on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child visit ParentalRights.org.

To summarize, homeschoolers should not live in fear, but we do need to be wise, and we will need to be vigilant to protect parental rights and homeschooling freedoms in the future. We stand prepared, with your help, to do that as we’ve done for 25 years.

Michael Smith
HSLDA President

[Mommytoa3rdgradeboy]

I do not homeschool, but I certainly admire all those who do. If homeschool laws are changed, perhaps it may be necessary to band 2gether, and pay a certified teacher to teach your children (outside of school) or maybe local home schoolers' parents can check to see if there are already "certified" teachers who do homeschool. Maybe one teacher can teach a couple of subjects, then another one teach a couple more. I am fortunate that the school my son goes to, is a really good public elem. school. The vast majority (if not all) of the teachers are Christian, and most are involved in their local churches--baptist, methodist, non denominational.