The direct link to her blog is at the end of this post. Here is her complete article:
I looked and looked to try to find out where the saying "Where goes California, there goes the rest of the country." But, I couldn't find it. It does come to mind though with the recent news about homeschooling in California. I doubt there is a homeschooler in America who has not heard what happened last week in California. For anyone who doesn't know what is going on a California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher. Right now more than 166,000 families are homeschooling illegally in California!
I have said it before and I'll say it again...I left my heart in California! I LOVE California! (If the cost of living didn't run our family out of the State I would still be there!) Leaving California was the biggest sacrifice I have made to be able to homeschool my kids. With all that said I can tell you the homeschool atmosphere in California has never been a friendly one. We started out homeschooling in California and homeschooled there a total of 5 years. I was amazed when we left California how much easier it was to homeschool in another State. (I am now homeschooling in my 3rd State and there is no comparison to what it is like in California.)
I can only speak for myself but I thought I would share a little of what it was like to homeschool in a less than friendly State. When we lived in California I was very hesitant to be out of the house during "school" hours. We didn't tell people we didn't know that we homeschooled. We loved our house because it was very private and our kids could be outside all day and no one would ever know they were there. I did not allow my kids to answer the phone or the door during school hours. I did not take my kids to the doctor or for haircuts during "school" hours. We didn't go shopping, out to lunch or anything else that would draw attention to ourselves. The only thing we did during the week was Bible Study at church (Which had a lot of homeschoolers.) If we went on field trips we went with a large group of other homeschoolers so we looked like a school group.
So why is it like this? (This is only my opinion.) The main reason I feel is because California has never dealt with getting homeschool laws in the State. Homeschooling has NEVER been legal in California! To educate your children at home each family had to set up a private school in their home. Yep, you heard me right! Each year we had to fill our an affidavit that we were operating a private school and would follow all the rules that governed private schools. Oddly enough, there are not that many things you had to do! Basically what was required was to fill out the affidavit, keep roll each day, and keep each child's immunization records on file. There was no required amount of hours you had to teach. There was no required curriculum. The only requirement was that you had something like 20 minutes of P.E. every 3 days. (I may be quoting that wrong, It has been 4 years since we left.) You did not have to be a credentialed teacher. Once all these requirements were met you were considered a Private Home Educator. If you called the school system and asked about homeschooling you would be told it was illegal. Several years when we received the paperwork to fill out our affidavits there was a cover letter attached telling everyone that homeschooling was illegal in California. Not very comforting!
The one thing I DON'T miss about California is the homeschool laws.
With all this said let me get back to my opening sentence. "Where goes California, there goes the rest of the country." I am sure there are a lot of people reading this thinking "I live thousands of miles from California, how can this effect me?" The thing to remember is that 1 out of 3 people in America live in California! This State has a LOT of influence over our Country! If the laws in California become even more hostile towards homeschooling then a presidence has been set for the whole Country. This also hits the news and suddenly your neighbor who has never known anyone but you who homeschools just has in the back of their mind that it's illegal....It is not a good idea to place in peoples heads!
Please don't think I am trying to scare anyone. I am just pointing out that we as a group cannot become complacent. Homeschooling for most of us is NOT under fire. But together we are much stronger. (United we stand, divided we fall.) I have seen this coming for years. (Really I have, you can ask my friend Faye! We have discussed it many times. LOL) I knew that at some point homeschoolers in California would have to deal with the fact that they were homeschooling around the laws.
Thank God for HSLDA! They are on the ball and they will not let this slide. In case you didn't know YOU can help. Please visit the HSLDA site and sign the petition to request Depublishing of California Court Case In re Rachel L. This is really much more than a homeschooling concern. This should be a concern for any person who wants parents in America to retain their parental rights.
If you want to learn more about this you can click HERE to read the information page about the court case at the HSLDA website. You can read the court opinion HERE. HERE you can read HSLDA's response to the courts ruling. HERE you can listen to the Focus on the Family broadcast on the case.
Please do take a moment to sign the petition. Also, and maybe even more importantly, please join me in praying for our fellow homeschoolers in California.
There is one ray of hope in the situation...Governor Schwarzenegger has vowed to protect homeschooling in California. You can read about it HERE.
LONG LIVE HOMESCHOOLING!
Just Call Me Jamin!
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema
No comments:
Post a Comment