Introducing: The Homeschool Security Advisory System.
By now, we are all well-aware of Homeland Security’s version of the terror alert system, but the color coded alert system is based on analysis of four basic criteria:
- To what degree is the threat information credible?
- To what degree is the threat information corroborated?
- To what degree is the threat specific and/or imminent?
- How grave are the potential consequences of the threat?
Because of the developing case in California and the subsequent media coverage, HSLDA has placed homeschoolers on high alert (level Orange). This condition is declared when there is a high risk of homeschool attacks by media and politicians. In addition to other protective measures, homeschool advocates should consider the following general measures:
Stay Informed and Alert.
Visit HSLDA’s California homepage for updates and sign up for HSLDA’s free e-lert service to receive up-to-the-minute emails.
Join a State Homeschool Organization.
Join HSLDA.
“The L family was doing it on their own and didn’t join HSLDA,” says Roy Hanson. “It would have been totally different had they been members of HSLDA. They would have gotten better counsel. This wouldn’t have happened.”
Stay Home.
“Be a good testimony. During the day, homeschool. Don’t be out at the gym, or out to lunch, or shopping in the mall.” (Grace Andrus, homeschooling mother)
If you note any suspicious activity on the part of journalists or politicians, please report it immediately. This concludes the homeschool security alert.
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To be honest, the somewhat self-serving “join HSLDA now” type messages do not really bother me. I scan over them with the newsletters I get from the AFL-CIO, and am just as capable of reading past them with HSLDA’s publications. Most organizations do that to some extent. I do take issue with the quote from Roy Hanson. Would this case have turned out differently had the L. Family been HSLDA members? Their non-membership is pointed out in almost every article HSLDA has published on the case, but I cannot help but wonder what difference it would have made, if any. This case started in the 80’s as an abuse case and HSLDA would have offered nothing more than friendly advise over the phone. Until it was clearly switching to a homeschooling issue, I don’t see where HSLDA would have stepped in…if so, at the earliest it would have been November 2007. But the L family had also dismissed their own lawyer and wasn’t receiving legal counsel throughout the case. We’ve discussed these issues here before, but really…with the public already perceiving homeschooling as a means of hiding abuse, how closely does HSLDA really want to identify with a family that has a history of sustained abuse allegations? Certainly they, too, deserve appropriate legal counsel, but that question nags at me every time people bring up how different it would be had the family only joined HSLDA.
The part of the article which jumped out at me, and inspired my little jab, was the quote near the end which I originally read over at Homeschool and Etc. and is what sent me looking for the entire article. “Be a good testimony. . . . homeschool . . . don’t [go] out.”
Isn’t that what we came from? A fear of being seen in public for fear someone would find out we were homeschooling? Now, I do agree that the best thing homeschoolers can do for homeschooling is to simply educate their children well. That is all any of us want in the first place, and in the end, I believe it shows. But there are two things I object to in the quote.
First: My family is not on the same schedule as the public schools. We do not do school from 9 to 3, from the end of August to the end of May. We homeschool year round, with breaks that suit us. My husband does not have a 9 to 5 job, nor does he have weekends. Right now, he has no scheduled days off, and we take time with him when we get it. When he moves back to Lincoln, he will work seven days and be off three. Part of why we homeschool is so that we can still have family time despite the odd work hours. School can wait. And while you might see us all at the zoo, or at WalMart, or shopping for beds at two o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, you might also find us working on a science project on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of summer.
Second: To some extent, going to the gym, out to lunch and running errands is homeschooling. The biggest objection to homeschooling seems to be “What about socialization?” But then we want to respond to the criticism by hiding out in our homes? My children need time to develop friendships, too, and why not at McDonald’s after meeting up with other homeschoolers at the YMCA? And have I mentioned that it is a 45 minute drive to just about anywhere from here? Meaning that I am not going to come home immediately after a planned activity and do errands later.
So I won’t be adjusting our family’s schedule any time soon. And you know what? I’m not sure this is the most detrimental thing that homeschoolers can do. In fact, it might actually have some potential benefits. When we are out during school hours, we get questions. “Is school out?” “Did you have an appointment?” But it is in these casual conversations in the grocery aisle that I have had most of my opportunities to really talk to non-homeschoolers about homeschooling. Most are polite and curious, and most are quite open to the idea of not being bound by the school schedule. Many have remarked at how sweet my children are and how helpful they are in getting the cart loaded. They are not always model children in public, but they are pretty normal kids who neither hide behind their mother when strangers speak to them nor do they become obnoxious.
When else will anyone even notice that we are homeschoolers?
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
This HSLDA organization is starting to get on my nerves.
#### “Be a good testimony. During the day, homeschool. Don’t be out at the gym, or out to lunch, or shopping in the mall.” ####
They’re sounding like Al Gore and his stupid global warming hoax Carbon Tax idea. Do what I tell you, when I tell you, how I tell you.
I might start a movement:
Save your Homeschool. De-register from any National Homeschool Organization and join a State specific group.
Here’s a good first step:
http://www.home-school.com/groups/
To be completely fair, the quote is actually from another homeschooler, but it was selected for the article.
I so agree with that. We want homeschooling to be seen as a valid, mainstream choice, but we are supposed to do it in the shadows so nobody knows?
IMO, well socialized happy children being an active part of the community - whether or not the PS happens to be in session - are the best argument FOR homeschooling!
Stay at home? You’ve got to be kidding!
Everyone knows you’re s’posed to go to Wal-Mart when the P.S. kids are in school. It’s so much less crowded! And don’t get me started on movie theaters!
I home school my 10 year old son here in Ireland. Two years ago I was reported to social workers for not sending Sean to school. (it was anonymous)
We got it all sorted out eventually and the visiting social workers thought that what we were doing was just great!
However, when I confided to a friend about being reported, she said ‘perhaps you shouldn’t be out and about with Sean during the day. I saw him out in the van with his dad during school hours.’
It hurt, coming from a friend.
I agree 100% with what you have said in this post!
God bless,
Ruth
I realize that the results of this case in California can and will have far-reaching impact on homeschoolers everywhere, but doesn’t this seem like a cheap scare tactic to drive up membership? Considering the millions of homeschoolers out there how many of these cases actually occur each year? I’m not saying we should brush off or ignore attacks on homeschooling, but is it really time to start screaming that the sky is falling?
Our city of Austin, in a move to curb gang violence, instituted several years ago a daytime curfew for school-aged children. On the plus side, the APD is well aware of homeschoolers, and has no record of harassing hs’ed kids who are out and about during the day; though sometimes they stop kids and ask if they’re supposed to be in school, they always take “I’m a homeschooler” as a response.
However this courtesy by the APD could change any time, should the mayor and City Council decide gang activity has increased and it’s time to really enforce the curfew. Being homeschooled is a defense to charges of violation of the daytime curfew, but that only means that you wouldn’t be cited when you go pick up your teenager from downtown APD headquarters. Since there’s no registration of homeschoolers in Texas, there’s no way a teen can prove he’s a homeschooler, and if the APD think he’s lying, it’s off to downtown to wait for your parents to confirm your story.
So basically, under city law, homeschooled teenagers must stay inside all day, or be escorted by their parents, or risk being picked up by the police.
I found the last piece of advice offensive, actually. I am not on the public school’s schedule and therefore am not limited by it. Actually, not being on the PS schedule frees up a great deal of time to go to zoos, activities, and museums when they would otherwise be crowded.
Also, does anyone CARE? Maybe if one lives in a small town, possibly, but if one does not, I really have a hard time believing that anyone gives a rat’s toenail about a parent and child being out & about during school hours, particularly since we have year-round school and might (for all anyone else knows) be on track break.
Moreover, even if this were not the case, if one’s HSed child is reasonably well-behaved, why should they be kept at home for the sake of not attracting attention? Wouldn’t this tend to fuel the accusation that HSers aren’t well-socialized?
Absurd.
You know those tv commercials for the home alarm systems … the ones that show children innocently and sweetly sleeping in their beds while the big bad guy dressed in black with a ski mask breaks in …. yeah, that’s what HSLDA tactics feel like to me sometimes.
And honestly, “it would have been totally different if they had been members…” REALLY??? Why? Would HSLDA been able to remedy the sick abuse issues?
Don’t even get me started on the stay home thing. I completely concur with your assertion that what we need to do is educate our children well. Period.
That “high alert” warning system and list of general measures just feels an awful lot like a bad ad…
Well, the warning system is a bad ad completely made up by me, but all the advice is taken directly from the article. My daughter is getting ready to fly for the first time and after looking at all the warning stuff for airports, I just couldn’t help but note certain similarities.
PeregrinJoe–a lot of what HSLDA does is considered “scare tactics.” I don’t look at it quite that bad. I think they believe in what they do and honestly do think everyone is better off being a member. But then, the e-lerts bug me. It seems every one of them has some article included about some family who was called by CPS and a call to HSLDA stopped the investigation. Seriously, if one family a week or less from HSLDA’s membership roles is getting a call from CPS, that isn’t too bad. And probably one or two of them is actually engaged in some form of abuse.
HSLDA is a special interest lobby no better or worse than AARP, the Catholic League, trial lawyers, teacher unions and the NRA. Such groups right along with business lobbies corrupt and have almost crippled our increasingly cynical and dysfunctional “politics” imo. And don’t even get me started on Blackwater, the oil and drug companies, health and home insurance industries, etc.
“And honestly, “it would have been totally different if they had been members…””
Doesn’t the HSLDA make it quite clear that they won’t step in on cases involving abuse?
I can buy that they’re alarming people out of an honest concern up to a point but that counts as deliberately misrepresenting what the case against the family was about or else what the HSLDA will give help with. Dishonesty in either case.
Dawn, I agree. At first, it didn’t bother me much because everyone was just barely getting information. But they have sort of persisted in talking about an “juvenile dependency matter unrelated to homeschooling.” They would not have done anything until the issue was about homeschooling, and then only if the legality of homeschooling were in question. I don’t know that was really on the table until the ruling was published.
But it bugs me after all this time they are still sort of sweeping the abuse issue under the rug.
Well said.
Don’t forget that the L family case started out as a child abuse issue. The family situation has been described as “complex” among other things. Not exactly the poster family for the homeschool movement, you know? So is it any wonder that HSLDA wants to point out the non-membership status?
Dana,
Good article! And I had a similar reaction when I read the advice by that homeschooling parent about staying home. I will say that with my older daughter now going into 7th grade, I’ve become much more serious about homeschooling. We generally don’t go out (very often) during the morning hours; we HAVE to have SOME time to really focus substantial time on topics like prealgebra and biology, KWIM?
But even non-homeschoolers realize it doesn’t take homeschoolers all day to teach a school day’s worth of material. I have no hesitation about taking my kids out in the afternoon - or about taking them someplace “educational” at any time of day. And I rarely get negatives. Maybe it’s partly because Colorado has school choice, which means no one is really sure whether my kids “should” be in school on a given day. The most common question we get is, “Oh, is it parent/teacher conferences at your school today?” With so many schools on so many different schedules, few people these days assume Colorado kids are truant.
But I do agree with you - we have had many very constructive discussions with people we’ve met “out and about” during school hours. Most are supportive, and many have questions. And my kids’ behavior (especially these days as they are 8 and 12), intelligence, and socialization skills almost always leave a good impression of homeschoolers.
It seems to me that “be a good testimony - stay home during school hours” may be fine for some families, but it’s not for every homeschool family. It’s not for mine, that’s for sure!
Rose, you could be right. But the emphasis to me with the “not HSLDA members” in quotes after mentioning the case is not on a desire to distance themselves from the case but a desire to point out that they should have been members. Especially when articles like this have quotes like the one from Mr. Hanson saying, “It would have been totally different had they been members of HSLDA.”
They have said in the past that they hoped the Long family won their case, but if that wasn’t to be they would argue for a narrow ruling.
The only reason that homeschooling was brought up was has a way to charge the parents. They had to make a case. This happens quite a bit. When they can bring 5 charges to the table, it is easier to get a plea to one. This didn’t really have anything to do with homeschooling. It was about abuse. The DA just used all the cards that he had. An Judge friend of mine once told me that most laws have a counter law that can be used if needed. That is the ways laws are written. So I do not think that home schools in Cal were ever really in danger. Besides that schools would have a heart attack if we all put our kids back in school. The system would fall apart fast.
We like to walk the neighborhood naked while we school. I just don’t think I could give that up … even for a good testimony.
I agree, her advice is way off base. I’m not afraid of being a homeschooler, ashamed of homeschooling or trying to pretend that we’re anything but homeschoolers. There’s no way I’m going to sit around during the day just to look like a traditional schooling family. We LOVE getting to have museums, zoos, trains, stores and nearly everywhere else all to ourselves during the day. We take Wednesdays off each week just to enjoy the quiet and ease of movement in such places. I love being able to say, “We’re homeschoolers and are enjoying a break in our week” whenever someone asks how we’ve come to be there during school hours. I’ve never had a single “you should be home studying” comment in the many years that we’ve been learning and living this way. Talk about going over to “the dark side” of learning!
The funny thing is that often in school they are trying to recreate the real world. The kindergarten curriculum is really full of this! Makes a lot more sense to just live in the real world.
Isn’t it funny how no one questions when a bus load of kids go to the theatre or to the museum? Then, it’s understood that they are out on a field trip. (Although, sadly, there are less and less of these.)
And yet, why is anybody questioning that field trips are a part of the homeschool learning experience?
For some us, learning from the world village is one of many good reasons to homeschool.
I know Sandra meant funny-peculiar, not funny-haha, but no, I don’t think it’s funny either way. It makes perfect (though ominous) sense to me.
This brings up a very important point. I think this happens automatically, a sort of lizard-brained deference to Authority, the idea that a big thing with rules and history and a yellow bus to boot, must be okay because there’s safety in numbers and elaborate organized hierarchies and also in the traditional, familiar things.
It’s why we keep confronting that wearisome child abuse argument about how homeschoolers should go to a nice school full of classrooms everyday, just in case. It’s what undergirds the assumption that homeschool kids unfairly benefit from their parents’ lenient grading and perhaps even outright cheating. Etc etc.
So I think when we hear this, and try to respond with our own wonderful “learn from the world” frame of reference, we are logical and “right” but completely miss the target and don’t change any minds. What it’s gonna take is becoming familiar as neighbors and citizens and normal families, having a comfy history people can relate to, and of course numbers — having a critical mass of enough homeschooling families happy and visible in the culture.
Unfortuantely, too many homeschoolers have succumbed to the lizard-brained safety-in-numbers just-in-case response ourselves — which explains HSLDA!
The sad thing is no matter how many nice normal homeschool families some people know they are going to cling to the homeschool stereotype. The nice normal homeschooling families will always be the exception to them.
Alasandra, there’s a lot of reason to believe that, I’ll grant you. But I don’t see an alternative with better potential, do you?
Dana, you’re so smart.
As well as redundant in this case, assuming the perceived goal of education IS the status quo!
Not exactly. One of the goals of education is socialization and the assimilation of minority groups into the dominant culture. That isn’t really the status quo.
That depends on whether you’re the assimilating majority or the assimilated minority, doesn’t it? For the former, it’s very much about holding the line on that status quo . . .no matter how much they have to change the latter to do it!
I agree that about all we can do is get out and know people in our community. Even if they think we are the exceptions to the homeschool stereotype at least they know that ONE family isn’t like that. We also need more positive homeschooling stories in the media and to correct the false ones.
I’m glad you disagreed with the part about staying home…at first I thought you were advocating that and I totally disagreed!
Christy
Nope, not me. If we ever get back to that point, I think you won’t need anyone to tell you to stay home, and something will be seriously wrong with the nation.