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Homeschool Education Press Releases

August 6th, 2006 --WND

Constitution threatened by homeschool case
Expert: U.S. parent-led education endangered by U.N. children's protocol

A couple in Brussels has been threatened with criminal neglect for schooling their children at home, and a U.S. expert on the issue told WorldNetDaily the case actually could pose a threat to the sovereignty of the U.S. Constitution.

That's because if the basis for the legal arguments being made by Belgian prosecutors ever would be accepted in – or imposed upon -- the United States, that fact would make the U.N. protocol equal to the Constitution.

In the case at hand, Alexandra Cohen has published a piece on the Brussels Journal website that her husband, Paul Belien, the website editor, was called to police headquarters, questioned, and threatened with criminal negligence counts because their children are homeschooled.

"He was told that the Belgian authorities are of the opinion that, as a homeschooler, he has not adequately educated his children and, hence, is neglecting his duty as a parent, which is a criminal offense," she wrote.

What terrifies U.S. homeschool education experts is the authorities' decision to cite the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a legal argument.

That 1990s-era document was ratified quickly by 192 nations worldwide, but not the United States or Somalia. In Somalia, there was then no recognized government to do the formal recognition, and in the United States there's been opposition to its power.

"(The treaty) would become the supreme law of the land," Chris Klicka, the senior counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association, told WND. In conflicts with the Constitution, the treaty easily could prevail, he said.

"Our worst fears are being realized as we see these other European countries feeling the pressure because they did sign on and enter into this treaty," he said. "Britain, for instance, had a report done by the (U.N.) Committee of 10 and they got chastised because they were allowing corporal punishment."

Although signed under the Clinton Administration, the U.S. Senate never has ratified the treaty, largely because of conservatives' efforts to point out it would create that list of rights which primarily would be enforced against parents.

The Convention is an international treaty that creates specific civil, economic, social, cultural and even economic rights for every child. It is monitored by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, which conceivably has enforcement powers.

Under the U.N. protocol, a child could have an abortion without telling her parents, while at the same time forcing them to pay for it. A generic description of the treaty calls it "child-centric." But Klicka's HSLDA is more specific.

The U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause requires that "all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land," the HSLDA said.

That would mean any state law relating to child custody, the family, education, adoption, child pornography and dozens of other issues could be nullified in an instant, the group said.

Under the protocol, children would be vested with freedom of expression, so that "any attempts (by parents) to prevent their children from interacting with material parents deem unacceptable is forbidden."

Reaching to the far end of that logic would produce this result: your 6-year-old wants Playboy magazine, or even to visit a Playboy club, and you pay for it.

Parents who fail would be subjected to "identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment, and follow-up."

Klicka said the HSLDA is not directly involved in the Brussels case, although he has contacted the couple's legal counsel and has offered assistance if needed.

In the report by Cohen, she said the couple's four oldest children were homeschooled, and have moved on to the university level.

"Our youngest child is also being homeschooled, but she has yet to obtain her high school certificate, for which she is currently taking exams," she said. Those exams will be taken before the nation's Central Examination Board, of the Ministry of Education.

"The Belgian Constitution, written in 1831, allows parents to homeschool," she wrote. "The CEB exists to enable people who have not attended or who have failed school to obtain an official high school certificate."

The number of homeschooled students in Belgium, although small in number at about 500, has quadrupled in the past five years "as parents are seceding from the official schools where drugs and violence are rampant and pupils are indoctrinated with political correctness," she wrote.

That, she said, "clearly bothers the authorities," who recently introduced a legislative plan that cites the U.N. protocol and obliges homeschooling parents to sign "an official 'declaration of homeschooling' in which they agree to school their children 'respecting the respect (sic) for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and others.'"

She and her husband refused, and now the Ministry of Education believes they have violated the law, she said.

The only response from the Minister of Education, Frank Vandenbroucke, came through a spokesman who said in a local newspaper that in Belgium homeschoolers are required to sign a document that requires them to follow the protocols of the U.N. Convention.

"These parents have not done this. This is why the ministry has started an inquiry," he said.

Klicka noted that even if the Senate never ratifies the protocol, it could be dumped on the United States by the ruling of an activist judge.

"The fact that virtually every other nation in the world has adopted it has made it part of customary international law, and it means that it should be considered part of American jurisprudence," Cohen wrote.

In an earlier critique, HSLDA President Michael Farris noted the protocol essentially would move any rights that parents now have to social workers, who could make any decision concerning children – and force compliance.

May 2, 2006 -- HSLDA

Proposed Southern Baptist Resolution:
Develop Exit Strategy from Public Schools

A resolution calling for Southern Baptist churches to develop an exit strategy from public schools is being proposed by Roger Moran, member of the SBC Executive Committee and a homeschooling father, and Houston attorney Dr. Bruce Shortt.

The resolution identifies the systemic problems within public education and the damage it's causing to Christian children. The proponents hope that the resolution will be considered by the Southern Baptist Convention when it meets June 13-14 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The debate over Christian education has been continuing within the Southern Baptist church as more church leaders recognize that public schooling is no longer serving the goals of the church.

In particular, in June 2005, Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called for all responsible Southern Baptists to begin developing an exit strategy from public schools.

Home School Legal Defense Association welcomes the debate within the Southern Baptist denomination and endorses the proposed resolution. Many current homeschoolers have already considered the issues outlined in the resolution and freely concluded that public school is not an acceptable alternative for the provision of a Christian education.

As well as encouraging homeschooling, the resolution also encourages churches to direct resources into developing Christian education within the church.

The resolution also commends the work of adults who are acting as missionaries in a public system which is rapidly undermining Christian principles.

This debate is likely to continue, since as Mohler said—public schools are not likely to improve in the years ahead. Christian parents have a choice to make. They can continue to risk the public system or take responsibility for the education of their own children and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

We hope that the members of the Convention will adopt this important resolution.

May 1, 2006 -- Worldnetdaily.com

Striking at the heart of the schools

The level of enthusiasm varies from region to region, but there is no question that sports is more important than education to most high-school students. This is as true of homeschooled children as of their private- and public-school counterparts. For while personal instruction tailored to the individual is a much superior method of learning algebra, Latin and Shakespeare, it is impossible to play football alone unless a Playstation is involved.

The laws vary from state to state, but in those school districts where homeschool participation in sports is banned, parents who wanted to give their children the chance to participate in team sports often opted for lawsuits and political lobbying in the interest of forcing public schools to allow athletes not attending those schools to play on their sports teams. However, this is a short-sighted and sub-optimal strategy for five reasons.

First, it teaches reliance on the courts and legislatures to correct a perceived injustice rather than personal initiative. Is running to Mommy Government at the first sign of difficulty truly the lesson most homeschooling parents wish to teach their children?

Second, by creating an emotional involvement with the local public school, athletic participation strengthens the very institution that should be encouraged to wither away.

Third, even if such efforts are successful, the ability to participate is unlikely to be permitted for long, as what a legislature can give under pressure, it can also take away.

Fourth, it fails to build an alternative structure for future generations of homeschooled children.

And fifth, it often doesn't work.

And while it may be churlish and unjust to deny homeschooled children the right to play for the same institutions that are funded by their parents' taxes, one can hardly expect coaches and athletic directors who belong to the National Education Association to embrace what is quite literally the competition and a potential threat to their financial livelihood.

So I found it encouraging to note in the Washington Times that just as their predecessors did not shirk from providing children with an academic option, modern homeschoolers are beginning to work together to offer their children sporting options as well:

Home-schooling parents in Frederick County, learning that their children could not play on high school football teams, decided not to punt. They formed their own squad instead. "My son and daughter have not been able to play football or cheer because the [community] programs end at eighth grade," says Terry Delph, who with fellow home-school mother Nancy Werking co-founded the Central Maryland Christian Crusaders ...

The Crusaders and their cheerleader squad for girls yesterday held their second informal practice at St. Stephen's Reformed Episcopal Church in Eldersburg, Md. Official practices are set to begin July 31. The football team currently includes 28 boys, while nine girls have signed up as cheerleaders.

The separation of school and sport is hardly a new concept. Already, some of the most elite teams in the country have very little to do with school – the basketball academies that regularly send players to the NBA and NCAA Division One programs aren't exactly devoted to academics – and in Europe nearly all sporting competition revolves around athletic clubs, not schools, which has likely helped Europe surpass the United States in both academic and athletic performance.

Public schools that can't teach children how to read or speak English are nothing new, but when a team full of NBA All-Stars can't even medal in basketball, then one must truly fear for the future of America.

Some thinking outside the conventional will no doubt be necessary, but allies may well be found in the churches, community centers and even professional sports teams. For example, some of the richest and most famous professional teams in the world hail from multi-sport athletic clubs, including Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, which also sponsor numerous children's squads from the first grade level on up.

It will not be an easy or a short-term endeavor to recreate an entire sporting infrastructure, but it can be done, and with the energetic growth of homeschooling, it is quite likely that it will be done. And as with standardized tests and spelling bees, success in the field of sports will eventually attract the best athletes to these extra-curricular sporting organizations, thus furthering the American enthusiasm for the development of children devoid of government control.

April 28, 2006 -- Colorado

Homeschoolers Stop Expansion of Government Control

Despite an uphill battle, homeschoolers managed to avoid being included in legislation aimed at expanding the compulsory attendance age.

The crisis began just after the Colorado legislature opened in January. Treon Goossen, with Concerned Parents of Colorado, contacted Home School Legal Defense Association about a bill introduced by Senator Tapia which imposed two additional years of government control over home education, private schools, and public schools alike. The bill called for lowering the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 6, and raising it from 16 to 17.

Initially, the prospects of stopping the bill looked bleak because the legislature is controlled by Democrats.

Shortly after the bill was introduced, HSLDA worked in conjunction with Treon to send an e-lert encouraging Colorado members to ask Senator Tapia to withdraw the bill. When Senator Tapia did not withdraw the bill, HSLDA then asked members to flood their legislators with calls to oppose the bill.

Not only did these calls fail to stop the bill, it was amended in committee to add yet another year to the compulsory attendance age—from 17 to 18!

Treon and HSLDA desperately worked together to create their own amendment that was presented by Senator Brophy. The amendment excluded families operating under the home education statute from the minimum and maximum compulsory attendance requirements.

With only two weeks left in the session, not only did the amendment excluding homeschoolers pass, the bill was also changed to reduce the expansion of the compulsory attendance age. For public and private school students, the maximum attendance age was reduced from 18 to 17; the minimum attendance age was raised from 6 back to 7!

This means that only those families operating their home education program under a private satellite school will be subject to the one-year increase (instead of three-year increase) in the compulsory attendance age. Those operating under the homeschool statute will remain under the same compulsory attendance age requirements (7-16) as before.

The bill has not been signed by the Governor yet, so there is a still a chance it can be defeated completely. HSLDA has sent out another e-lert requesting families to call the Governor opposing this bill.

April 25, 2006 -Worldnetdaily.com

Homeschool Convention Season in Full Swing

The year 2006 will probably be the biggest homeschool convention season yet. The homeschool movement just keeps growing and growing. Virtually every state now has a homeschool convention. The season starts in March and usually ends in late July. This year, California has six conventions in different parts of the state. Illinois and Texas have five each. Tennessee four and Indiana four. If you want to find out what is happening in your state, simply go to your search engine and type in "Homeschool Conventions" and you'll get a national listing of conventions from Alabama to Wisconsin.

If you are thinking of homeschooling, get to one of these conventions, attend the workshops, listen to the speakers, and examine what the vendors have to offer. Most important of all, talk to homeschooling moms and dads and look at the homeschooled kids. You will easily conclude that homeschooling is the healthiest and most exciting educational phenomenon in America today.

If you happen to live in New England, I will be at the Massachusetts (MassHOPE) homeschool convention in Worcester on April 28 and 29, giving a workshop on teaching reading and selling "Alpha-Phonics." Jane Hoffman, of Backyard Scientist fame, will be there thrilling the kids with her great experiments. Steve Demme, master mathematician, will be giving one of his amusing and inspirational talks.

Other workshops: "How to Prepare Your Homeschooler for College." "The Case Against Darwin" by James Perloff. "Building Character in the Family." "Winning at the Scholarship Game." "Homeschooling As a Single Parent." "Strategies and Resources for Teaching Kids with Special Needs." "The Father's Role in Raising Daughters." And much more.

In other words, there is something for everyone at a homeschool convention. And nowadays they are bigger than ever. I remember the first convention that MassHOPE had back in the 1980s. It was held in a church basement with about 300 participants. This year the convention is in Worcester's huge convention center, and about 3,000 people are expected to fill the halls. So even in liberal Massachusetts, the Christian homeschool movement is thriving, and its convention draws attendees from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont.

That the homeschool movement is, for the most part, a Christian phenomenon should surprise no one. For Christians have been most sensitive to what the public schools have been doing since the 1960s to de-Christianize education. Children in the public schools are at risk in four significant ways: academically, spiritually, morally and physically.

They are at risk academically because of the deliberate dumbing down of the students through faulty teaching methods. The growth of illiteracy in the United States is not an accident. It is the result of teaching methods that make sure that most young Americans will be intellectually crippled by their schools. The kids know that something terrible is happening to them, because they felt so intelligent when they entered school, and by the second and third grade they feel stupid. Because they are frustrated and angry, they act up, and are then labeled ADD or ADHD and put on Ritalin or some other mind-altering drug.

Student religious beliefs are undermined by values clarification, secular humanism, teaching evolution as fact, and making sure that God is kept out of the classroom. The student's morality is undermined by sex ed – which nowadays should be called porn ed – not to mention the rash of teacher seductions of students, plus moral relativity, homosexual teachers with their own agendas, and drug ed in which kids are taught that the decision to take drugs is part of their personal decision-making process. As for the physical risk, it can be summed up by the continued violence in schools, the shootings and stabbings that we continue to read about in our newspapers.

And that is why more and more parents are taking their children out of the public schools and educating them at home. The children who are most at risk are those from minority families who rely on the public schools to do the educating. But even more and more of these disadvantaged parents are showing up at homeschool conventions. The word is simply getting out.

Another interesting fact about homeschooling has to do with demographics. Christian homeschoolers love children and are having large families. I know of several that have 10 kids. So, while liberals are aborting their children, Christians are nurturing theirs. It turns out that the Bible is the most effective fertility pill to be had. And that augurs well for America's future.

February 28, 2006 -- Arizona

Parental Rights Protected

A bill meant to resolve a local enrollment issue delivered an unprecedented attack on parental rights during the 2006 session of the Arizona Legislature.

Senate Bill 1527 was introduced with the sole purpose of enabling any child who was at least 16 to enroll themselves in a public school without the consent of their parent or guardian.

This bill threatened unparalleled erosion of parents' fundamental right to the care, custody, and control of their children. For a review of many of the important cases in this area please see our memo "Decisions of the United States Supreme Court Upholding Parental Rights as 'Fundamental.' " To our knowledge, Arizona is the first state in the nation to contemplate this type of legislation.

Homeschool families across the state contacted their legislators and urged them to defeat this bill. Carol Shippy of Arizona Families for Home Education (AFHE) worked with Chris Klicka of Home School Legal Defense Association to craft an acceptable amendment. Senator Ron Gould, a homeschool father himself, offered the amendment to protect parental rights. The amendment changed the bill to permit a minor to enroll in a public school only with the written consent of a parent or guardian.

The Senate K-12 Education Committee voted unanimously to amend the bill.

During the hearing one of the sponsors of the bill, Senator Hale, argued that there was a big problem with public school enrollment practices. He said the main reason this bill was originally filed was because a minor on an Indian reservation tried to enroll in the local public school. The father was absent and the mother was apparently unable to enroll her son because of a drug problem.

Most of the committee members were unconvinced that this was anything more than a local control issue and that legislation was unnecessary. In the end, the amended bill passed the K-12 Education Committee 5 to 3. However, it is entirely possible that S.B. 1527 will be allowed to die.

September 7, 2005 --Arizona

Homeschool E-mail Newsletter Fills Void

As Arizona's home-school community mushroomed during the past decade, Nancy Manos knew there was no way families could keep up with the number of activities, classes and events that could help them teach their kids.

So she made a way.

Manos' Happily Educating ouR Own e-mail newsletter reaches more than 900 families five days a week, most in the East Valley.

Anything related to home schooling is fair game for the free e-mail, including items for sale, announcements of activities and meetings. The HERO Web site lists more long-term items as well as a business directory of HERO-reader recommended businesses.

"My idea, my vision for it, was to just create a place where people could share information that was specific to home schoolers," said Manos, who launched HERO in October 2002 as a two-page printed newsletter handed out to 29 families.

A year later, 125 families were receiving the printed newsletter, which quickly wasn't making sense financially.

"It kept growing every month, so we shifted to an e-mail format and we created the Web site," said Manos, who lives in Gilbert. Less than three years after the original launch, there are 912 families on the list.

What some might see as a thankless job, Manos calls a "ministry" that she and her husband, James, "feel we can do using our gifts to help other people."

Dawna Somerville, who lives in Mesa and has home schooled for 13 years, says she signed up for HERO after meeting Nancy three years ago. She uses the daily e-mail to keep up with what is happening in the home-school community and to post her own announcements.

"I will make announcements of field trips or curriculum that I might want to look for, things of that nature," Somerville said. "I use it primarily for reading just so I can find out what is available to us out there."

Manos, who home schools her two daughters, says even though the newsletter is available to anyone, HERO is a Christian network.

Carol Shippy of Tempe, who is on the board of directors of Arizona Families for Home Education state organization with the Manoses, said HERO has become a vital part of the home-school community.

"It allows the distribution of all types of information and it facilitates a sense of community because it extends far beyond the East Valley," Shippy said. "It gives a person who is new to home schooling a way to connect with other home schoolers."

As for the woman behind the scenes, who friends describe as "a bundle of energy," "cheerful and friendly" and "a sweetheart of a lady," Manos praises her husband for all of his help.

"We just want to be a blessing," Manos said. "It's an investment that we want to make."

April 21, 2005 -- ABCNews

Kansas School Shooting Plot Foiled

Suspect Had Posted Rant on MySpace.com

The message on MySpace.com about April 20 bring Adolf Hitler's birthday and the seventh anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre read like some adolescent rant of alienation. But then, according to authorities, the message added that students at Riverton High School, in Riverton, Kan., "should wear bullet proof vests and flak jackets" to school on April 20. By Tuesday, the inflammatory posting was the talk of the school and administrators began to investigate. Michaela Ferneau, a sophomore who was the main target of the attack, told an online friend in North Carolina about the plot. The friend then notified law enforcement. Five male Riverton students were arrested Thursday on charges of planning a shooting rampage. Cherokee County sheriff's deputies found guns, ammunition, knives and encoded messages in the bedroom of one of the suspects. The boys could face charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. "Law enforcement was fully justified and acted in an efficient, professional and swift manner," said Phill Kline, Kansas' attorney general. In the small community of Riverton, a town of 600, the suspects are well-known. "I mean, it's kind of scary to know that people from a little town like this would even try anything like that," said Ferneau, who was the target because the suspects thought she alerted the school principal of the plot, even though she says she found out from a teacher who overheard the boys plotting. Trenton Berry, a junior at Riverton High, called the suspects "the oddballs out of the school." "Really, everybody picked on them and everything," he said. TJ Stanley, who knows one of the arrested students well, said he "saw a few cases of kids messing with" one of the suspects, but that teachers really got on his case because he was a class clown. "I think that the pressure of his friends got to him into this situation," said Stanley of the student. Some students were skeptical that the suspects would have carried out their plan."Nobody in this school, I mean that I know of, would really do anything," said Jordan Adams, a freshman at Riverton. "They might talk about it. I think they were just blowing hot air." But adults were shocked by the foiled plot. "The kids are afraid to go to school," said Jamie Holman, a parent in Riverton. "We're thinking about homeschool. It's just ridiculous — you can't send your child to school to learn."

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