Guest Author - Meg Grooms
Anyone who has spent a few minutes listening to the news recently knows that President Bush wants to make an amendment to the Constitution banning the legality of same-sex marriages. What does this have to do with education, specifically homeschooling your child? Most would assume nothing, the two are totally unrelated – but the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) begs to differ. Michael Farris released this “e-lert” in Feburary, 2004 on behalf of the HSLDA, “Should the nature of the traditional family be changed, indeed radically re-defined by the modern state, the constitutional-historical basis of what the family is and its privileges are weakened. We cannot let this happen.”
Is that so? One prominent group of homeschoolers has spoken against the HSLDA in recent weeks, members of the Unitarian Universalist church. HUUMans on the Web (Homeschooling Unitarian Universalists) states “HSLDA, is a religiously conservative, contractual law firm that represents, by its own admission, fewer than 90,000 home educators -- less than 5% of the country’s estimated 2 million homeschoolers.” (http://www.uuhomeschool.org/pub-040217-01.php3)
The HSLDA represents about 5% of the total homeschooling population, yet they state that they represent all homeschoolers. In truth the HSLDA is very picky about who they accept as members and who they will support. To obtain membership in the HSLDA your annual membership check isn’t enough. The HSLDA requires that parents state their level of education, their employment schedule and work location, their teaching schedule and the percentage of teaching the parent actually does. The HSLDA wants to know if your children are ever outside between the hours of 8:30am & 3pm without your supervision (and if the answer is yes they want to know exactly where your children are and what they are up to!) They ask about prior problems with school systems or court actions against you regarding homeschooling. The HSLDA will not become involved in custody and divorce cases, which is the primary legal issue when it comes to homeschooled children. When you send off your application you are agreeing to “[using] a clearly organized program of education to instruct our child” and “exercise diligence in teaching our children in a responsible way”. There are several reasons why a family may be denied membership in the HSLDA, including if your child is in an independent study program or attends a public or charter school for extra-curricular activities.
Other non-related issues the HSLDA has lobbied for and against in the past include the marriage tax penalty relief (pro), universal pre-k (against), the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (against), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (against), the Universal National Service Act, and the Responsible Fatherhood Act.
The truth is that the HSLDA speaks for a very small percentage of homeschoolers, yet they pull tremendous weight because homeschoolers don’t know the power they carry. The only way to make your thoughts known is to speak up for yourself and by taking the responsibility of protecting your own family by knowing and following your state laws. Does the HSLDA speak for you?
