Elections

Which National Candidates Will Support Educational Freedom?

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As campaign season starts, we remind you to be engaged and informed about the candidates running for elected office in 2012. The people we put put in office have a lot of power to influence educational freedom and parental rights across the state and nation.

We, at Homeschooling United, have contacted several candidates running for US Congress and Senate, and asked them to sign the Educational Freedom Pledge as well as submit a “guest-post” so that they can tell you, first hand, about their views regarding education. So far, Ed Martin, candidate for the 2nd congressional district, has signed The Pledge. We have also contacted Ann Wagner, a candidate for that district, as well. U.S Senate candidates, Congressman Todd Akin, Sarah Steelman, and Senator Claire McCaskill have also been been offered the opportunity to advocate for parental rights and educational freedom. If anyone else jumps into the fray, we will also give them the same opportunity to communicate with the homeschooling community, here. We hope to hear from all of these candidates soon and look forward to their support for educational choice.

UPDATE: 5/18/2011 – Congressman Russ Carnahan was left off the list of contacts. He also received and invitation to support educational freedom. Sorry for the oversight.

parenting

Love Letter To My Son

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A woman with a new-born walked by me, in the store, the other day and I immediately flashed back 18 years. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when I was carrying you in my arms. And I can’t believe I sound like my mother as I remember her saying the very same thing about her own children.

Tomorrow you graduate from high school. You are a grown, young man. You are about to leave the familiar, comfortable and safe surroundings of home and go out into the world and shape your own life. Mixed emotions. I can’t be more excited for you and proud of your accomplishments. I can’t be more terrified of sending you off to college and into the world. Where did the time go? Did I teach you all the skills you’ll need to navigate what you are about to experience? Did I pass on enough wisdom? Did you listen? Did I love you enough, care for you enough, make you feel secure enough? Are you ready; am I?

When you become a parent, your life does a complete paradigm shift from being completely self-absorbed to becoming all about teaching someone else to become an independent human being. That’s it. It’s all about doing for and giving to someone else. Everything you do is about providing for your child(ren). Teaching them, loving them, providing for them, caring for them. Parenting is pretty selfless undertaking. But, in some monumental ways, the paradigm shift gave me some gifts and taught me a few things, as well.

It’s obvious that parenthood makes us care givers when we have children, but what surprised me the most about becoming a parent is what you did for me, gave to me, how you changed the way I saw the world. When I became a parent, I learned the gift of knowing how important it is to have something in this life, someone, important enough to walk through fire for. Having a child brought me to understand the significance of how the life cycle is intended to work and why the bonds of parent and child are strong enough to never break, but pliable enough to stretch and allow for change. You are the one who first gave me the gift. And although that gift wasn’t minimized when your sister came into our lives, you are the one who first opened the door to the new existence.

Life’s events threw us some compelling curves. Public school, dyslexia, homeschooling, divorce. Even at the youngest ages you navigated them with great strength and sensitivity. Beyond being your mother, I admire the person you are and the character you possess. I hope, in time and as you gain strength from living in new experiences, you will recognize and fully appreciate these qualities you own. I want you to know how much I love you, how proud I am of the wonderfully compassionate young man who you have become, and how much faith I have in you and your ability to succeed in building a fulfilling life. As you graduate and move into your future, (Grandma was right; you never stop worrying about your children, no matter how old they are.) I also want you to know that I will always be here. There will always be a soft place for you to land, a place to call home, if you need it.

Love always, 
Mom

Educational

Computer Sciences At Home!

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If homeschool parents know about techy stuff and can teach kids, at home, about the latest and greatest in computer science, they are so ahead of the rest of us who are struggling with just getting through the history timelines and quadratic equations. My friend, Darin, sent this nifty website, Aviary, for any who are brave enough to venture into the world of electronic techydom. I plinked around a bit and found some pretty cool stuff to play with. 

I am under the impression that there are tutorial videos to start you off and the apps translate to Adobe’s commercial software. Knowledge of such would be considered a head-start for any who pursue the field of computer technology because Adobe is widely used in the professional realm.

I am guessing most of us will turn our kids loose with the site and let them teach us about the ins and outs of the fine points in computer generated media. Enjoy and please let me know how you liked this post. I would love to post some creations here.

Homeschooling, Legislation

The People Are Not Safe From Last Minute Legislation Until The Fat Lady Sings

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The following education bills, in the Missouri House and Senate, are outlined and updated here as to their status as the 2010/2011 session has progressed. Some bills that advance Race To The Top/Educated Citizenry 2020 are included here as well as any that are related to the threat of undermining homeschooling freedom as we, at Homeschooling United, believe that RTTT/EC 2020 does threaten homeschooling. Please also understand that even though bills may not, as of this posting, look as if they may advance through, to the Governor’s desk, nothing is ever dead until the session closes. Very often bills are, at the last minutes of the session, lumped together in omnibus bills, grouped or added as amendments on unrelated legislation and passed under the radar. It is very important to keep a watchful eye on all legislation until the session closes.

HB179: Nasheed, Jamilah – CoSponsor: Curls, Shalonn Raises the compulsory school attendance age to 18 in all school districts unless the student has successfully completed 16 credits towards high school graduation. Referred: Elementary and Secondary Education (H) Bill currently not on a House calendar

HB393: Jones, Timothy: – CoSponsor: Dieckhaus, Scott Establishes the Parent Empowerment and Choice Act or the Parent Trigger Act which allows parents under certain circumstances to invoke interventions for a struggling school Public Hearing Completed. (H) Bill not currently on House calendar.

HB463: McNary, Cole – CoSponsor: Funderburk, Doug Changes the laws regarding virtual schools Public Hearing Completed (H). Bill not currently on House calendar

HB473: Jones, Tishaura – CoSponsor: Cookson, Steve Changes the laws regarding charter schools and establishes the Missouri Charter Public School Commission Perfected with Amendments (H). Bill not currently on House Calendar

HB476: Funderburk, Doug – CoSponsor: Parkinson, Mark Establishes the Students First Interscholastic Athletics Act which requires every high school age student to have the opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics. Public Hearing Completed (H). Bill not currently on the House calendar

HB639: McNary, Cole – CoSponsor: Dieckhaus, Scott Requires each school district to establish a comprehensive program for student academic progression.  Public Hearing Completed (H). Bill not currently on House calendar.

HB 738: Nasheed Requires that students develop a personal plan of study by the eighth grade year; Reported Do Pass (Senate)

HB752: Torpey, Noel – CoSponsor: Lampe, Sara Changes the laws regarding the compulsory school attendance of certain students Elementary and Secondary Education (H). Elementary and Secondary Education Date: 4/20/2011 Time: 8:00AM Location: House Hearing Room 6

HB835: Lampe, Sara – CoSponsor: Newman, Stacey Requires a child in the St. Louis City School District, except for a child who is intending to be home schooled, to be enrolled in a public, private, parochial, or parish school by five years of age Referred: Elementary and Secondary Education (H). Bill not currently on house calendar

HJR10: Barnes, Jay – CoSponsor: Dieckhaus, Scott Proposes a constitutional amendment repealing the prohibition against state funds being used to support any religion or religious school and specifies that parents have the right to choose any school Public Hearing Completed (H). Bill not currently on House calendar

HB939: Dieckhaus, Scott– CoSponsor: Jones, Timothy Creates procedures for open enrollment of public school students across school district boundary lines Referred: Elementary and Secondary Education (H). Bill not currently on House calendar

HJR38: Barnes, Jay Proposes a constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to provide financial assistance to students to pay for elementary and secondary education at any accredited school they select Referred: Elementary and Secondary Education (H). Bill not currently on House calendar

SB 20: Wright-Jones Modifies the compulsory attendance age for the St. Louis City School District so that students must attend school from five years of age to eighteen years of age Bill not currently on Senate calendar

SB 21: Wright-Jones Requires kindergarten attendance at the start of the school year for children who turn age five at any time during the calendar year. Bill not currently on Senate calendar

SB 124: Keaveny Requires children in the St. Louis City School District to attend school at age five

There have been many, many bills added to the list of educational legislation since we last updated you on bill status. The session ends in mid May and all bills are up for grabs even though elected representation may claim the demise of any particular legislation. It’s a good idea to continue to monitor any and all legislation you are particularly concerned with, until the session is over, because it isn’t over until it’s over and the fat lady sings.


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Missouri School District Tries Dirty Tricks To Encourage Homeschoolers To Declare

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Home Schooling Legal Defense (HSLDA) issued this statement today about a Missouri school districts deceptive tactics to add to the coffers of the public school funds. It’s all about the money, folks and public education will stop at nothing to get more of your money…..

Missouri–Branson Using Ploy to get “Declaration of Enrollment”

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:

Branson Public Schools recently sent a misleading letter to area homeschool families referring to the homeschool statute and saying, “In order to meet these requirements, we will need the attached form [a Declaration of Enrollment] completed and returned to us.”

Missouri law allows a family to file an optional “Declaration of
Enrollment.” It is rarely, if ever, to a family’s benefit to file it.
If filed, it may be treated as a public document and be made available
to any interested party, whether their intentions are honest or
otherwise.

When public schools use tactics like this, the motive can often be traced back to money. Public schools may get a little extra money from the state for every family that files the optional declaration.

If you think you might be one of those few families who might be benefitted by filing, please call so we can talk.  Otherwise, feel free to disregard a school’s invitation or demand to file.

Sincerely,

Scott Woodruff
HSLDA Senior Counsel

It is always important for citizens, especially homeschooling citizens to be aware of what the laws are in your state. There will always be someone who is willing to take advantage of those who are less than vigilant about protecting their freedoms.

 

Educational, Homeschooling

Homeschoolers Taking Action Against The Threat Of Further Mandates In Missouri

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Missouri homeschooling freedoms are under a very stealth like attack by a variety of sweeping educational reforms introduced into the legislature in 2010/2011 and some lawmakers who have been less than forthcoming with their views about educational choice/freedom. Homeschoolers are trying to absolutely identify just who is and isn’t a champion of their freedoms. Some legislators are expressing an interest in putting methods into place that would require more scrutiny into the homeschooling family’s process. The following email was circulated in the St. Louis Region as a call to action, so to speak.


The following is from, Kathie Zuroweste, a homeschooling mom in the Franklin County area.  This is the third conservative legislator that has voiced similar concerns about homeschoolers this session.   As you may recall there have been other homeschoolers in the Franklin County area that have addressed this issue this session with different legislators.

Kathie has removed the legislator’s name, but she did want other homeschoolers outside her area to be aware of the fact that questions are being raised about how legislators can ensure that all homeschoolers are receiving a quality education.  She is also asking  for people to send her ideas on how she can respond to this legislator, and others, with similar concerns about what we are doing.

From Kathie Zuroweste:

This is for both Public School families and teachers and Home Educating families.
Would you please help me out in this mini poll?

I have included;
1-letter  The Educational Freedom Pledge
2 & 4 -letters   From Home Educator to MO Representative
3-letter   From MO Representative to Home Educator

We find this quite interesting and would like to let not only this Representative know how we feel, but the other Representatives and Senators as well.

Please forward your responses to:   kathiecurt@hotmail.com, also, please put “educ freedom pledge request” as the topic in the subject line so it is correctly routed.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kathie Zuroweste kathiecurt@hotmail.com

p.s. read from the bottom to the top on the following posts, they are in order of most recent to first.

4 Dear Representative,

I am going to answer your question with a polling of both fellow home educators and public school parents and educators. I have already begun and I believeyou may find the results quite informative.  I will try and get that done this week.

Kathie

3 Dear Home Educator,

I have not been approached about signing this petition and while I am sitting on the House Floor listening to debate on redistricting I also sit right behind another Representative who is on this list and stated that it needs to be updated. With all that being said I do support the Home Schoolers and I think that we have talked about this before but I do have some concerns that there are some out there that do not provide the quality of education that the majority of home schoolers provide. I would like to know how you think we can make sure that children in this environment get a quality education?

2 Dear Representative,

I just received this and noticed that your name is not on here.Have you not been approached? Or is there a reason why not?I am interested in knowing.

Thanks,Home Educating Mother

1 From: * To: ;Subject: The Educational Freedom PledgeDate: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 22:57:03 -0500

Went to this site to read the oposing view and spotted this on the right hand side of their blog… note the section in red.

Homeschooling United | Parents standing united to protect their right to home educate

http://homeschoolingunited.wordpress.com:80/ The Educational Freedom PledgeI, _________________________________, hereby pledge, to the ___________________________ homeschool community, to support a parent’s right to freedom of educational choice for their children and their ability to exercise that right. In doing so, I also agree to oppose any federal, state or local mandates that impose regulation of educational standards, curriculum, testing and/or registration. Name and Date Copyright 2010 Homeschooling Unitied

The following legislators have pledged to uphold educational freedom

MISSOURI

Brian Nieves – State Senator, District 26
James W. Lembke – State Senator, District 1
Jane Cunningham – Senator, District 7
Chuck Purguson – State Senate, District 33
Tim Jones – State Representative, Dist 88
Scott Rupp – State Senate, District 2
Kurt Bahr – State Representative District 19
Kathie Conway – State Representative District 14
Gary B. Fuhr – State Representative District 97
Chuck Gatschenberger – State Representative District 13
Doug Funerburk – State Representative District 12
Rick Stream – Sate Representative District 94
Paul Curtman – Representative – District 105
Mark Parkinson – Representative – District 16
Anne Zerr – Representative – District 18

FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVES IN MISSOURI

Ed Emery – District

Icet – District 86
Cynthia Davis – District 19
Joe Smith, – Dist 14

CANDIDATES IN THE 2010 ELECTIONS WHO SUPPORTED EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM

Dave Evans – Candidate State Representative District 19
Cynthia L. McGee – Candidate State Representative, Dist 109
Edward M. Crim – Candidate State Representative District 97
Curtis Farber – Candidate State Representative District 67
Richard Blowers – Candidate State Representative District 102
Jack Jackson – Candidate State Senate, District 26

FEDERAL CANDIDATES

Kristi Nichols – Candidate US Senate
Tony Laszacs – Candidate US Senate
Martin Baker – Candidate US Representative District 1
John Wayne Tucker – Candidate US Representative District 3

The following legislators have been asked, but declined to support the Educational Freedom Pledge:

MISSOURI

Don Gosen – Representative – 84th Dist.
Ryan Silvey – Representative – 38th district.
Kevin Wilson – Representative – 130th District.
Scott Dieckhaus – Representative – 109th District
Steven Tilley – Representative – 106 District

As an update, please add Rep. Jay Barnes (District 114) to the list of declined legislators.

Please contact Kathie at the above email address with your comments and concerns and, please comment here on this post. Homeschooling United would like to share the thoughts of homeschoolers across the state/country as we know this blog is read by many of the state legislators in Missouri as well as others nation wide.

Homeschooling, Legislation

Slow Return On Educational Freedom Support

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On March 8th the Educational Freedom Pledge was delivered to nearly 80 representatives in the Missouri House, and so far, as of this posting, Homeschooling United has not heard from any of the elected officials with dissent or support.

We would, however, like to welcome our newest supporter, Representative Anne Zerr. Please contact the representative and thank her for her support.

With the sweeping educational changes moving through the legislature this year, it is more important than ever for homeschoolers to know who will and will not stand for parental choice and educational autonomy. Many of the bills in the Missouri House and Senate support the Race To The Top initiative and/or set the stage for future erosion of homeschooling autonomy and freedom. Sliding in under the radar at the moment is HB476, a bill that would allow homeschoolers to participate pubic school sports teams. This bill, like so many others across the country will slowly lay the foundation to chip away at the current educational statutes that provide freedom from registration and/or mandates that require oversight by government officials.

Please contact the following legislators and urge them to support educational freedom.

Ira Anders, Randy Asbury, Joe Aull, Jason Barnes, Mike Bernskoetter, Linda Black, Rick Brattin, Cloria Brown, Susan Carlson, Chris Carter, Ron Casey, John Cauthorn, Mike Colona, Pat Conway, Steve Cookson, Sandy Crawford, Gary Cross, Shalonn Curls, Kevin Elmer, Joseph Fallert, Paul Fitzwater, Lyndall Fraker, Keith Frederick, Jeff Grisamore, Casey Guernsey, Marsha Haefner, Dave Hinson, Steve Hodges, Lincoln Hough, Jay Houghton, Jonas Hughes, Jacob Hummel, Delus Johnson, Caleb Jones, Jason Kander, Mike Kelley, Jeanne Kirkton, Andrew Koenig, Bart Korman, Michele Kratky, Sara Lampe, Bill Lant, Brent Lasater, Melissa Leach, Thomas Long, Nick Marshall, Karla May, John McCaherty, Tom McDonald, Kevin McManus, Cole McNary, Tim Meadows, Chris Molendrop, Genise Montecillo, Myron Neth, Stacey Newman, Jeanette Oxford, Donald Phillips, Paul Quinn, Craig Redmon, Bill Reiboldt, Todd Richardson, John Joseph Rizzo, Lyle Rowland, David Sater, Dave Schatz, Ron Schieber, Ed Scheiffer, Jill Schupp, Tom Shively, Clem Smith, Churie Spreng, Mary Still, Jay Swearingen, Mike Talboy, Mike Thomson, Rochelle Walton Gray, Steve Webb, Paul Wieland, Jake Zimmerman

Legislation

Can Sports Participation Be The Slippery Slope To Registration?

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The debate has long ensued regarding homeschoolers and their participation in public education sports programs. This session, in Missouri, homeschoolers are watching HB476 , introduced by Representatives Funderburk and Parkinson of St. Charles County. The act provides every high school age student to have the opportunity to participate in inter-scholastic athletics. Homeschoolers have always been squeamish about signing on to publicly sponsored programs for fear of being pulled into the system and required to register with their state. They should be as equally cautious about this bill because in order to be qualified to participate in inter-scholastic sports, under this legislation, students shall …

(8) Be maintaining a satisfactory grade point average sufficient to meet the school district’s academic policy to participate in athletics or making satisfactory progress in his or her education program that is considered equivalent to the school district’s academic policy to participate in athletics.

No measures are interjected into the bill to outline how a homeschooled student would be required to supply that information. While this bill is thinking ahead in that it has encompassed every kind of learning situation, including virtual schools, which are a big part of the Race To The Top initiative, otherwise know as Educated Citizenry 2020 in Missouri, it does not have specific language to maintain educational autonomy for homeschoolers.

If the student’s school of attendance does not offer interscholastic athletics, the student shall have the opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics through his or her public school district of residence.

While HB476 tries to offer all high school students an opportunity to participate in inter-sholastics sports, it does not offer any language to allow competition between primarily homeschool teams and teams formed in private or public schools.

Uncategorized

Do You View Education As A Government Entitlement?

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Most homeschoolers could be described as the cultural role model for parental involvement, at least as far as education is concerned. Homeschoolers themselves may tell you that definition would go even farther, because we know homeschooling is more than just providing “education” to our children. It’s a way of life. Sadly, our larger culture has come to think of education in a different way. The state of Missouri mandates it as an entitlement. Is that a good thing?

Read my latest posting on 24th State. It’s time for the culture to look at education in a different way.