Tag Archives: parental rights

Educational, Homeschooling, parenting

Common Core State Standards and The Free Market

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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.

  1. 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?
  2. 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?
  3. Were you taught that Roosevelt’s New Deal saved the country by intervening in the economy and “stimulating” demand?
  4. 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?
  5. 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

2020 Parkway Drive

St. Peters, Missouri 63376

636-447-6900

http://www.thefamilyvision.org/

 The event is free to the public, but offerings to the Family Vision Library and Loren Spivack are appreciated.

Contact Lisa Payne-Naeger at Lisa.Naeger@mac.com

or the Family Vision Library http://www.thefamilyvision.org/

Educational, Homeschooling, Legislation, parenting

The Slippery Slope Of The Loss Of Individual Liberties

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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?

Read the rest here! …

Also, Follow this legislation in Missouri: HB616

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.

Educational, Elections, Homeschooling

Can You Trust Them To Support It If They Won’t Sign Their Name To It?

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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

Educational, Elections, Homeschooling, Legislation, parenting

Compulsory School Age Mandates On Steroids?

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Every year, in Missouri, homeschoolers face legislation that threatens their parental rights and educational freedoms. Each year, lawmakers present bills, in some form, that mandates compulsory school age. The heavy hand of big government attempts to mandate compulsory school attendance because they know the more time they can mandate children spend in government schools, the more influence they can have on your children. Homeschoolers must always be vigilant in monitoring these attempts encroach on compulsory education requirements because these regulations will, without fail, reach over into homeschooling regulations, and parental rights to direct the education of our children will be forever lost.

On Tuesday evening, in his State of the Union Address, the president stated it was his intention to propose that every state mandate a raise in compulsory school age to 18. As homeschoolers, this flies in the face of all parental authority in deciding what is best for our children in the educational realm we choose appropriate.

Michel P. Farris, of Home School Legal Defense, issued a statement yesterday, urging all members of the homeschooling community to make their voices heard regarding the potential intrusion on educational freedom and parental rights proposed by the Obama administration.

Call Now!

Right now, please call the White House and your members of Congress, and give them this message:

“Last night, President Obama called for the government to mandate that all children stay in school until they graduate or turn age 18. This is not the federal government’s responsibility. Leave education decisions to parents, not federal bureaucrats. Tell President Obama to withdraw his compulsory attendance mandate immediately.”

  • The White House: 202-456-1414, or send an online message.
  • Your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators: 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) or use HSLDA’s Legislative Toolbox to find their names and contact info.

There appears to be no limit to this president’s desire for power. Car companies, banks, doctors, and now schools and the family. But this time he’s gone way too far, and homeschoolers and freedom-loving Americans need to make sure that he hears our message.

Thank you for standing with us for freedom.

Sincerely,

Michael P. Farris, JD, LLM
Chairman, HSLDA
Homeschooling, Legislation, parenting

Oppressive Reporting Legislation S1877 Stalled

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Homeschool Legal Defense issued a statement, late today, in which they reported that S1877 was stalled during the hearing process. In the alert sent on Monday, the HSLDA described the consequences of such a bill as promoting a police state which could potentially create situations making it more difficult to address the needs and identify true abuse.

A link is provided here for you to watch the hearings and see for yourself the arguments made for and against the legislation.

Elections, Homeschooling

Ed Martin, Candiate For U.S. Congress, Promotes Educational Freedom!

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Several months ago, Ed Martin signed on to Homeschooling United’s pledge for Educational Freedom. Mr. Martin is running for Missouri’s second congressional district’s seat. His enthusiastic support of homeschooling and less regulation in education is very much appreciated by those of us who value our parental rights and smaller government as it relates to choosing the right educational situations for our children. You can see Mr. Martin’s signed pledge here.

Check out his website and learn more about his plans for bringing more sovereignty to the people of Missouri.

Homeschooling United has contacted Ann Wagner’s campaign, but has not received confirmation of support for the Educational Freedom Pledge as of this posting. We will keep you posted as we look forward to hearing from her campaign soon, relating to the Ambassador’s stance on homeschooling, parental rights and less regulation in education.

Homeschooling, Legislation, parenting

Belleville, Illinois Still Pushing Daytime Curfew …

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… just under the radar and not out in the open. Seems any changes made after an overwhelming turnout of concerned citizens at last week’s city council meeting had no real effect on its members. Changes made to the charter were superficial and unsubstantial. Why does government, on any level, think they have the right to dictate to you how you raise your children? Read the following statement from HSLDA concerning the “changes” made by Belleville’s leadership to the daytime curfew issue.

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends in Belleville:

Following your awesome showing at the last Board of Aldermen meeting, the Chief of Police agreed to revise the proposed daytime curfew ordinance.
We have now had an opportunity to analyze his revisions. They are for the most part mere window dressing. They do not change the fundamental nature of the ordinance as a daytime curfew.
Scripture acknowledges the government’s role in making people fear to do wrong. But a daytime curfew makes people fear to do what is right.
HSLDA, Illinois Christian Home Educators, and local homeschool leaders will continue to work to protect the fundamental liberty of freedom of movement in Belleville.
Action Requested
NOTE:  Please take action only if you live in the Belleville area.
1.) Clear your calendar for the evening of July 5 at 7:00 p.m. The Board of Aldermen will bring up the ordinance for consideration at that time.
2.) If you have a personal line of communication with any aldermen, contact them personally and ask for their support in preventing a daytime curfew.
Background
The basic change in the revised ordinance is that the daytime curfew provisions were shifted from section 30-1-33 to section 30-1-44.
The revised ordinance deletes all references to homeschooling. While this is an appropriate change, the ordinance remains repugnant to fundamental freedom because it criminalizes the basic human right to move about during the daytime.
Daytime curfews tend to spawn litigation. If Belleville enacts a daytime curfew, another loser could be the taxpayer—who will be given the city’s legal bill to pay if a lawsuit follows some day.
Thank you for standing with us for freedom!
Scott A. Woodruff
HSLDA Senior Counsel
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.

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.

Legislation

Missouri Law Makers Introduce Even More Legislation To Restrict Educational Freedom

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Missouri legislators are certainly earning their pay this year. While they aren’t going for the big power grab with one single piece of legislation, they certainly have peppered the session with lots of small attempts to chip away at your educational freedom. Here are a couple of other bills you should watch and be aware of.

HB 179 This bill raises compulsory school age for everybody, to 18 years of age. If your homeschooled child can show they have completed course work to satisfy 16 credit hours, they are exempt. It also takes away, previously allowed by law, the ability of metropolitan school districts to lower the age to sixteen by resolution of their school boards. This is another veiled bill to advance Educated Citizenry 2020. EC2020 seeks to mandate educational control of all students from pre-K to age 20. Hence, multiple bills in the legislature, this session, to change compulsory school age on both ends.

This bill has been referred to committee.

… strengthening the P-20 pipeline will encourage communication between all levels of the education community and the business sector to ensure that Missouri’s schools and institutions are meeting the demands of the workforce both in quality and area of preparation. …

Provide parents and early childhood educators with the information they need to see that all children enter kindergarten on par with their peers and ready to learn. Formalize DESE’s existing school readiness standards by requiring that standards be distributed to parents, early childhood educators, and school districts. School readiness assessment data and information on prekindergarten experiences for all kindergartners shall be included in core data reporting requirements.

Advance efforts to support voluntary, universal prekindergarten. Explore potential funding sources for prekindergarten education including federal funding. The Committee would like to note that there was not unanimous support for the prekindergarten recommendations.

 

HB 463 This bill focuses on Virtual Schools. Educated Citizenry is very focused on advancing Charter Schools and Virtual Schools.

The Committee also formulated ideas for improving provisionally accredited and unaccredited schools, including the need to continue to investigate alternative school models such as virtual schools and charter schools.

HB 463 mainly addresses funding for virtual schools. It is very important for homeschoolers to understand that virtual schools probably pose the most serious threat to homeschooling freedoms than any other issue in education reform. If you decide to participate in virtual schools, on a full or part time basis, you would certainly be required to register with the state as a participant, and funding, of course would be an issue. With that would absolutely come the mandates and restrictions of government control. It is something all homeschoolers should be aware of and keep in mind as they make decisions in the future whether or not they want to participate in virtual school program. This bill has also been referred to committee.

Homeschooling families in Missouri and across the country should be very aware of the legislative developments in Illinois. Illinois is the testing ground for government takeover of educational freedom. Please continue to watch closely the developments of SB 136. While Arne Duncan was the Chicago Education Secretary, before he joined the Obama administration’s Department of Education, he made it very clear that putting homeschooling under the mandates and control of the government was his goal.