As I was filtering through my Facebook feed, I noticed a posting from my good friend, Dr. Brian Ray, of the National Home Education Research Institute (NEHRI). I often share his posts because they always reflect the reality of homeschooling, good and not so good. I have always known Dr. Ray to present homeschooling in a truthful and unbiased light, even though he has home schooled his own children and believes in parent led education as a viable form of schooling. I find it amazing that our society can be so brainwashed into such narrow thought.
The article, in SFGate, features a formerly homeschooled student from Kansas who is now attending Penn State. It was titled, Homeschooling Presents Opportunities, Challenges.
Last night, I had the pleasure to address a room full of patriots who have just recently been awakened to the serious threat that Common Core State Standards poses to educational freedom, parental rights, privacy, and the 10th amendment. Common Core is designed to gradually guide our future generations away from the free enterprise system in to a managed economy and global workforce.
Go to Missouri Education Watchdog and Missouri Coalition Against Common Core to learn more about what you can do to fight the over reach of the state and federal government into your parental rights and freedom of educational choice. Help us protect these rights and your right to homeschool your children, which are in great jeopardy, if Common Core advances in Missouri.
Speaking of free enterprise you, and your friends and family, have the opportunity to get a refresher course on what a free market is supposed to be. Loren Spicack, the Free Market Warrior, will be at the Family Vision Library for a free, two night seminar on REAL free market principles that America was founded on, and what you should expect from elected in order to maintain and environment to sustain such.
Here’s a sample of what you can expect on Monday April 29th and 30th. This is also a great opportunity for homeschooled students to get exposure to conservative free market principles and how government works, or not, to maintain an atmosphere in which they can thrive.
The Free Market Warrior Economic Literacy Seminar
Learn what every American and Patriot MUST KNOW about Free Market Economics and how they REALLY affect the economy.
Most Politicians don’t even know this about our economy.
Can you explain why some tax cuts (Bush’s second term, Obama’s proposed) do absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy, while others (Reagan’s, Bush’s first term) provide a great stimulus?
Were you taught in High School that the federal government needs to protect consumers from corporate monopolies that would otherwise be able to charge whatever they wanted?
Were you taught that Roosevelt’s New Deal saved the country by intervening in the economy and “stimulating” demand?
4. Did you know that the biggest problem with American healthcare (one that is financially hurting us all) is that there is far too much insurance coverage?
Would you be surprised to learn that the economic theories espoused by the current administration and congressional leaders were conclusively disproved more than 100 years ago?
The seminar is given over two evenings and divided into four parts:
Intellectual and Historical Roots of Socialism: Understanding its broad appeal.
The Intellectual and Historical Roots of Capitalism: Why we’ll starve without it.
The Source of Value: Two contrasting views and their implications.
Applying the Principles of Freedom to the Problems of Today: Taxes, Education, Health Care, Protectionism and Outsourcing, Population, Natural Resources and many more.
This is a great opportunity for High School Students to get the real scoop on America’s Free Market Principles. Bring your teenagers!
April 29th and 30th at the Family Vision Library – 6:30 to 10:00 pm
Not long ago, I published this story on PolitiChicks.tv. Homeschoolers need to understand how close they are to losing individual freedom and liberty. Your parental rights, as homeschoolers, and Americans are being eroded. Here’s the PolitiChicks article:
How does the plight of one German Christian homeschooling family expose the hypocrisy of the Obama administration’s policy on religious freedom, homeschooling, education in general and parental rights?
Common Core State Standards are the federally mandated/directed curriculums that are the key to undermining homeschooling/private schooling too. Just because this legislation is now targeted in public schools does NOT mean you, as a homeschooler, are safe from the reach of the government. This initiative will mandate how/if you homeschool. HB616 is the first small step in stopping CCSS.
Notwithstanding any other law, the state board of education shall not
2 adopt, and the department of elementary and secondary education shall not implement,
3 the Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core Standards Initiative.
4 Any actions taken to adopt or implement the Common Core State Standards as of the
5 effective date of this section are void. Common Core State Standards or any other
6 statewide education standards shall not be adopted or implemented without the approval
7 of the general assembly.
Use the email addresses in the side bar to contact every one of the legislators in the House and Senate to let them know you are watching this and expect their support on this issue.
ParentalRights.org issued an alert, today, urging Missourians to contact the state legislature in support of HB 513.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 1, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 1.250, to read as follows:
1.250. 1. (1) The liberty of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, and care of his or her child is a fundamental right.
(2) Neither the state of Missouri nor any political subdivision of this state shall infringe this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.
(1) This section applies to all laws of this state, and the implementation of such laws, whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before or after the enactment of this section.
(2) Any statutory law enacted after the date of the enactment of this section is subject to this section unless such law explicitly excludes such application by reference to 11 this section.
Here’s the communication from HSLDA:
February 27, 2013Call To Support Missouri Parental Rights ActMissouri House Bill 513 (HB 513) would preserve the traditional right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children – but we need your help to see it passed. HB513 faces a crucial vote in the Missouri House Committee of Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, and that vote could come at any time.
A parent’s traditional right to raise their children according to their own conscience and belief was unquestioned in America until 2000. In that year the Supreme Court’s Troxel v. Granville decision failed for the first time to respect the rights of parents on par with other fundamental rights.
Since that decision, 24 lower courts have revealed an erosion of respect for parental rights as well – largely because legislatures have not yet stepped up to make sure these rights remain protected with clear legislation.
The time for silence is over. The Missouri legislature needs to say loud and clear that parental rights are worth protecting, and not to be left to the whim of judges.
Action Item
Please visit http://www.house.mo.gov/ and enter your zip code in the search box to find your state representative. Then, if your representative is on the list below, please call him or her and urge support for HB 513. Your message can be as simple as, “Please vote yes on HB 513. The rights of parents need to be protected by statute, not left to the shifting whims of judges.” Or you can form your own message from among the talking points below.
Committee members with an asterisk are already cosponsors of the bill. W encourage you to still call them, but also thank them for being a cosponsor when you call.
Contact Information
Jeff Grisamore, Chairman573-751-1456
Rick Brattin*573-751-3783
Elaine Gannon573-751-7735
Elijah Haahr*573-751-2210
Andrew Koenig*573-751-5568
Sue Meredith573-751-4183
Genise Montecillo573-751-9472
Jim Neely573-751-0246
Stacey Newman573-751-0100
Time Remole573-751-6566
Jill Schupp573-751-9762
Talking Points
HB 513 is designed to protect your parental rights as “fundamental.” Fundamental rights require a high level of legal protection, and only a “governmental interest of the highest order,” or a “compelling government interest,” can override such a right. Otherwise, the government only needs to show some “rational basis” for violating your right – and that is really no right at all.
So here are some key talking points to remember as you urge your lawmaker (and friends) to support HB 513:
HB 513 will not give any additional rights, nor expand any existing rights that parents have. It only provides better protection for the rights parents already have.
HB 513 will not allow parents to abuse their kids. It will not take authority away from the state to protect children from abuse or neglect. Because HB 513 reflects what is already the legal standard, it will have no impact on these other laws.
HB 513 will not remove the “best interest of the child” standard. Currently, that standard comes into play when a parent has been deemed unfit or when the family is broken and it falls to the judge to determine child custody. And the same standard will still come into play in all of those same situations even after HB 513 is passed.
HB 513 will not change the definition of “parent” or change who does or does not have parental rights.
It also will not upset current custody or adoption orders. Even when parental rights are fundamental, courts still have the power to enter custody orders when custody of a child is in dispute. And courts still have power to terminate the rights of parents (like for adoption). HB 513 does not change that.
HB 513 also will not let parents dictate curriculum in public schools. Even fundamental parental rights have been found insufficient to “entitle individual parents to enjoin school boards from providing information the boards determine to be appropriate” for students. Fields v. Palmdale School District, 2005
Thank you for standing with us in support of parental rights in Missouri!
Sincerely,
Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research
Scott Woodruff, of HSLDA, gives this definition of “Fundamental Rights” as they relate to Parental Rights:
There are three types of rights: ordinary, fundamental, and absolute. If a right is “absolute,” the government can do absolutely nothing to restrict it—like the right to choose a faith. The rights of parents have never been considered absolute. The battle today is over whether your rights as a parent are “ordinary” or “fundamental.”
Additionally, check the sidebar on the home page for a complete listing of email address, of the Missouri House and Senate, for you to copy and paste in your address fields so you can send blanket emails to the legislature in support of parental rights.
. . . you want to provide a better quality curriculum, you want to address certain learning needs, you want to provide a religious perspective, you want to keep them safe from violence, you want to instill certain values, you want to . . .
There are as many reasons to homeschool your child, as there are individuals in our country. Homeschooling is all about providing individual educational instruction and attention as deemed appropriate by parents. It’s great that we still have a choice. Many, before us, have fought long, hard battles to ensure we have the freedom of choice to homeschool or send our children to private schools, as an alternative to the public education system. And so, you breathe a sigh of relief, that you have been able to make a better choice for your child(ren). But are you and your children really safe from the dictates of the public education system? The answer is NO!
The facts are these: The Obama administration’s Race To The Top policies have successfully infiltrated the nation’s education reform platform. They are absolutely being promoted by Democrats and Republicans, alike. All but a few states (including Missouri) have adopted Common Core Curriculums State Standards, mandated by the federal government. That means the federal government is dictating across the board curriculum for all publicly educated students. Your local school districts have no control over curriculum anymore.
I know, you are thinking it doesn’t affect you. You homeschool, or send your kids to private schools, right? Wrong. It does affect you. The success of Common Core Curriculums depends on total buy in, in much the same way Obama care only succeeds if everyone is on government provided healthcare. They know it and that is why the are coming after homeschooled and private schooled children. It’s all in the assessments and data collection. That’s how they are gonna rope you in, among other things
In Missouri, we are now faced with the task of funding the unfunded mandate adopted by Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Common Core State Standards require every public school to administer, electronically, standardized testing aligned, of course, to the Common Core Curriculum. Electronic administration of these tests allows for easy data collection, by government, of those results. Your public schooled child will no longer have academic privacy. And tax payers are footing the bill for it. See where I am going with this? It also doesn’t stop with the public education realm.
The architect for the Common Core State Standards is now the president of the College Board. That’s right! David Coleman now oversees the College Board, so if your child takes college entrance exams, such as the ACT, SAT, etc., regardless of where he/she was educated, your child will likely be taking standardized tests that have been geared toward Common Core Curriculums. So, if you didn’t teach Common Core Curriculums in your homeschool, what is the plausibility your child will achieve acceptable college entrance levels on the tests?
There are many aspects to this issue, and homeschoolers should no longer feel safe from the long reach of government because they have kept their children out of the public school realm.
On January 31st, Dr. Brian Ray, of National Home Education Research Institute, will be in St. Louis to discuss the aspects of Common Core State Standards, Academic Angst and its target on the homeschooling community. No homeschool family should miss this discussion.
Educational choice is the new buzz word/phrase in the great educational reform debate. How quickly politicians learn just the right thing to say when trying to woo voters. But do their words line up with their actions? That’s the great conundrum of politics. How do you tell when a candidate or elected official is really dedicated to a cause? Well, you can consider it a huge red flag when they are reluctant to put their name on something, something like the Educational Freedom Pledge.
For the last few years, Homeschooling United has been following the “trends” in “Educational Reform” and watching how the federal government has been closing the gap on parental and educational freedoms, not only in public education, but in the private and homeschooling realms, as well. And we have also been watching the attitudes of politicians waffle between falling into line to follow “establishment” directives and fighting for the rights and independence of individual educational choice and freedoms. When Homeschooling United first introduced The Pledge, candidates were all too happy to be associated with educational freedom and homeschooling. Recent developments within establishment politics and educational reform trends have found it more difficult to locate character within potentially elected who are willing to sign their names on pledges to fight for basic and fundamental rights of parents to make educational choices for their own children. Choices that were once rudimentary to our culture as Americans.
As we look to the August primary we will update the list of candidates who choose to defend educational freedom and those who do not. Please take a look at the platforms of all the potential candidates and make your choices based on facts. But please don’t be swayed by excuses. Candidates who make it a policy to not sign pledges, but tell you they support your cause need to be more thoroughly vetted before you give them your support.
Among the candidates who have the courage to stand openly for educational freedom are:
Ed Martin, candidate for Missouri Attorney General, Bill Randles and Fred Saeur, candidates for Missouri Governor, Martin Baker, candidate for the 1st congressional district, Tom Martz, candidate for state representative in district 131, Terry Varner, candidate for state senate in district 3, Cynthia Davis, candidate for Missouri Lt. Governor, and Eva Guest, committee woman candidate in St. Charles County.
Dave Spence, candidate for Missouri Governor, John Brunner, candidate for US Senate, and Ann Wagner candidate for the 2nd congressional district have all declined to support Educational Freedom.
Look for more updates soon, as we add to the list before the primary.
UPDATE: Fred Saeur, previously listed as in non support of the Pledge, has contacted Homeschooling United and supports the Educational Freedom Pledge. Edits have been made to this post to reflect that change. 4:00 PM Wednesday June 27, 2012
PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING OUT …..Pass on to any other homeschool families you know!!!
A fellow homeschool mom assisting Dr. Brian Ray as he looks at the successes of homeschooled AfAm children asks for your help.
Dr. Brian Ray (Education Researcher and Fellow Homeschooler)
…..is conducting a historical study of homeschooling amongst African Americans. He is looking for families from all over the nation to participate in a study looking at the academic scholarship of homeschool students. In particular he is interested in looking at how African American students do on standardized testing areas (i.e. language, math, reading, etc.).
He is most interested in African American homeschooled children between the ages of 9 – 14.
Dr. Ray will work with the family to have an administrator conduct the test and all costs for the tests are 100% FREE!!
***Many homeschool families want their kids tested but either don’t know how to access this opportunity outside of their local public school district and/or can’t afford an independent tester or the cost of the test, especially if they homeschool multiple children. This study is an opportunity to not only help out Dr. Ray, who is interested in learning more about the homeschooling community, but is also a wonderful opportunity to have your kids tested for no cost to you! Note: all testing results will be shared directly with you.
So some of you I know still have anxiety about testing – but testing is a great way to see your child’s areas of strength and areas of growth. It helps you pinpoint just where more support and instruction might be needed. It is also great practice for families who are considering college or professional studies for their children. To enter into college and many professional careers young adults are expected to take any number of standardized tests or assessments. The more practice and comfort they have with this process the better.
If you are interested and/or want more information please contact Dr. Ray directly. His information is below.
Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
President
National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI)
Editor in Chief
Home School Researcher (academic refereed journal)
I started reading Gatto when I pulled my kids from public schools and began homeschooling. I and they began our exposure to a different way of thinking about education and why it is important and different from what the larger culture is conditioned to value. Enjoy this series.
It’s time for a legislative update. As of Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012 there are approximately 1278 pieces of legislation floating through the Missouri state capitol. Some are recycled from previous years and some are duplicates, but there are some very busy legislators with writers cramp in Jefferson City.
Let’s first address the most recent threat to homeschooling freedoms, SB 706.
Jane Cunningham’s office did respond to our requests for edits and your phone calls and emails regarding language in her Race To The Top bill, and how it may affect homeschooling freedom. While her office may not have been happy to have had to address questions, the process is set up to be transparent and accountable to the voters, and it appears that contact from concerned parents/voters/homeschoolers has been productive for homeschooling freedom.
Kit Crancer responds to HU's SB706 alert
A preliminary copy of a revised SB706 shows the offending language has been removed from the edited bill. It is not yet posted on the General Assembly website, so the threat isn’t completely eliminated until the revised bill is approved, but this is a step in the right direction. There are still many other problems with this bill, but none that affect homeschoolers at this time. This bill is one to keep an eye on and we will do so. Since transparency is and should be crucial in the legislative process, we hope Senator Cunningham’s office will make available, publicly, the bill before it makes its way through the approval process. It is imperative for the taxpayers to have a chance to examine this legislative work before it is approved by lawmakers.
SB460, introduced by, Senator, Robyn Wright-Jones is all about compulsory school age and this one moving, slowly, but moving. It has been referred to the Senate Education Committee after its second read. This one requires any child to attend kindergarten when they reach the age of five or earlier if their birthday falls early enough in the school year.
SB483, Senator, Scott Rupp’s bill for scholarships for academically advance public high school students has been approved out of committee and will move on to the senate for debate/approval.
SB527, Senator, Rob Schaaf’s, let’s “consider” homeschoolers for scholarships, bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee.
HB1206, Rep. Jay Barnes, homeschooling sports participation bill has been referred to the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.
Since my last posting, HSLDA has flagged a couple of bills.
HB1610, Rep Jamilah Nasheed has resurrected this bill from last year. In fact, this is the bill, in 2009, that raised compulsory school age for homeschoolers to 17, unless 16 or more high school credits were earned toward graduation. She is now trying to raise the age to 18. This does affect homeschoolers. This bill was introduced on February 1st and has been assigned to the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.
SB643, Senator Keaveny’s, compulsory school age bill requires children to attend kindergarten at the age of 5 years old in St. Louis City and Kansas City schools. This bill does have language that excludes homeschool students.
Understand that this is a big year for education reform in Jefferson City. While most bills do not specifically address homeschooling, yet, the reform will have far reaching affects in the long term and all parents need to follow what legislators are doing in this regard. Most of the legislation models the Obama administration’s Race To The Top agenda and will ultimately result in loss of local and parental control of your child(ren)’s education.
Ok, after reading this article, my brain is so overcharged with comment, I can’t slow it down enough to type articulately, my thoughts, so I am posting it here for you to read, and hopefully begin a conversation.
Yet whether liberal or conservative, “[o]ne article of faith unites all homeschoolers: that homeschooling should be unregulated,” Reich writes. “Homeschoolers of all stripes believe that they alone should decide how their children are educated.”
Homeschoolers, that I know, range from one end of the spectrum to the other, politically. Although, I do agree with the above quote, that we all just wanna be left alone to school and raise our kids the way we see fit, and to leave the government out of it, for the most part.
As I was filtering through my Facebook feed, I noticed a posting from my good friend, Dr. Brian Ray, of the National Home Education Research Institute (NEHRI). I often share his posts because they always reflect the reality of homeschooling, good and not so good. I have always known Dr. Ray to present homeschooling in a truthful and unbiased light, even though he has home schooled his own children and believes in parent led education as a viable form of schooling. I find it amazing that our society can be so brainwashed into such narrow thought.