HSLDA

Most of you know that about 2 1/2 years ago, I "married into" the homeschool community. Alexa and her 3 siblings were homeschooled and their parents played roles in the implementation of homeschooling in North Carolina and the direction of North Carolinians for Home Education.

Needless to say, we'll be homeschooling Aria and other future children. In fact, that issue came up pretty early in our dating relationship. It would be an understatement to say that it's fairly important to Alexa. As for me, I like the idea. Though I was never homeschooled myself, I think it's a great notion, and I like what I've seen from the homeschoolers I've met. I won't go into a list of reasons to homeschool. Just put "reasons to homeschool" into Google and you'll get 502,000 hits. Yea, they're a vocal crowd.

One of my favorite reasons for homeschooling is "sticking to the Man"; the Man here being the government, especially the school officials. Even in states where homeschooling is allowed by law, it amazes me how far the gov't and school officials will overstep their bounds and go out of their way to attack homeschooling. Homeschooling is a growing movement; which means that fewer kids will be under the influence of the public school system. They just can't stand that idea. Think I'm kidding? See this story of a Texas family. There are many more like it on that website of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. I agree with my father-in-law: it's not the goverment's duty to educate children, it's the parents' job. If the gov't offers a public education system as an option to parents, that's fine, as long as they are free to put their kids (and their money!) where they like - either public, private, or homeschool. But don't hold your breath for that money part.