Thursday
Aug132009
Here we go again...
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 08:00AM Every time political issues heat up, I feel like I need to start a mantra:
- Homeschoolers are very politically diverse. (Liberals/progressives can and do homeschool.)
- <insert divisive political issue of the day> is not a homeschool issue.
And most importantly:
- HSLDA does not speak for all homeschoolers (and most definitely does NOT speak for me.)
Hopefully in the next couple of days I will have some time to write about my take on the whole health care debate but regardless of how you feel about these types of programs, positioning “homeschoolers” on one side of a very partisan political debate can only serve to hurt homeschooling in the long run by making political enemies that we do not need. Not to mention, it is also inaccurate as there are many homeschoolers on the other side of the political fence on these issues.
Just felt the need to get this out there.
Update on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 09:51PM by
Stephanie
Stephanie
I expanded on these thoughts some more: More on HSLDA.
tagged HSLDA, health care debate in Homeschool Advocacy, Politics
HSLDA, health care debate in Homeschool Advocacy, Politics 
Reader Comments (13)
Amen, Stephanie - that from a former homeschooling agnostic somewhat left of moderate mom. The level of the anger and vitriol has done a terrible disservice to our country. HSLDA is, I suspect, working toward the same goals as the very extreme right Dominionists and Christian Reconstructionists.
HSLDA is a CHRISTIAN group, supporting a narrow version of Christianity, and essentially ignoring the rest of our diverse homeschooling community. Their continual knee-jerk alerts over every issue, whether related to homeschooling or not, whether the facts are verified or not, has their flock jumping and seeing boogeymen everywhere - and has alienated a significant portion of the hs community.
Great post and great comment--thank you.
Sparklee
You tell 'em. People are often surprised when I tell them that I'm a homeschooler (unschooler!) but dislike the narrowness, vitriol, and sheer stupidity of HSLDA. They don't speak for me!
As someone looking into early homeschooling the infighting is quite the turnoff. I don't understand why the common bond of homeschooling or unschooling is more important than religious beliefs. Maybe it's because religious women homeschool because they fear government teaching their kids about evolution and agnostic women homeschool because they fear government making their kids hate learning. I am not sure, I am just starting my investigation! Thanks for posting a look at it :)
Hi Vanessa. For me it has nothing to do with the fact they are a religious group. And it is much more than just differing homeschool styles.
What I have a problem with is that they take very high-profile stances on many, many, many non-homeschooling issues (if you look at their website you will see "calls for action" against issues such as abortion, "activist judges," and now health care, taking very politically conservative stances.) Since they are a "homeschool advocacy group" this winds up positioning "homeschoolers" as being extremely conservative as well, when we are actually a very diverse group politically.
Where this becomes a problem is with lawmakers. Homeschooling can and should be a non-partisan issue that garners support on both sides of the aisle. But when HSLDA and other conservative homeschool groups advocate very conservative positions on issues that have nothing to do with homeschooling, then homeschooling itself gets drawn into those very political debates. This hurts homeschooling in the long run.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers is an example of a group who stays neutral in areas of politics and religion...they focus only on homeschool issues and allows homeschoolers of all political and religious beliefs to come together to work on what we have in common...a desire to protect our ability to homeschool. VaHomeschoolers was founded by evangelical Christians and we have evengelical Christians on the board (as well as people of different and no faiths). It really is not about faith but about politics. We need support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, so it is not smart to alienate some by involving homeschooling in partisan debates outside of homeschooling.
I also have issues with how HSLDA goes about their "homeschool advocacy" (they tend to be very heavy handed with local and state officals rather than trying to build bridges and IMO they do a lot of fear mongering to play on homeschoolers fears (especially newbies) by offering "legal protection" when the majority of homeschoolers will never have any legal problems). But I will save that for another post.
I hope that this provides more information for where I (and others) am coming from. I can understand if you are new to homeschooling, you may not be aware of their political agenda outside of homeschooling (you can google "hslda political agenda" to learn more). As I said above, regardless of where you stand on those political issues, mixing them with homeschooling does nothing but hurt homeschoolers.
Well said, Stephanie.
Thanks for your very clearly worded (and even more clearly thought-out) post. Thanks also for the reminder of how lucky we are here in Virginia, where we have a homeschooling SUPPORT group/network in the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, which is led by volunteers and is non-partisan in all matters EXCEPT homeschooling.
Paige, in Staunton
Amen!!
Yes, thank you so much Stephanie! I understand now, and totally agree that political agendas should be separate. Do you know of any great homeschooling support groups or orginizations in Illinois that is like yours in Virginia?
Well said.
Hi Stephanie,
I find myself agreeing with Vanessa's original concerns about the infighting. (Vanessa, please join our IL yahoo networking group. )
There are conservatives and liberals concerned with many aspects of a universal health care program from the federal government. Some of them homeschool. I'm not sure how the health care issue can be determined as a "very partisan political debate" on a grassroots level?
Being in Illinois and as a homeschool advocate, I have some concerns about the 'cutting edge' "universal" this and that our state officials (some in the federal branch now) like to proclaim as an accomplishment. (We are beyond broke and our last 2 governors are either in prison or heading that direction. That was a bi-partian effort. :-} ) I've researched this enough that I think homeschoolers can certainly have some concern about "back door" losses of freedom.
HSLDA interfered (unsuccessfully) in a behind the scenes way with IL homeschooling freedoms. They are lawyers and the more laws, the better for them. Often, their actions seem no different than a government bureaucracy. (I 'dual-purpose' homeschool for learning freedoms reasons and to keep government infringements away from my family.)
Homeschooling is a political act. Sometimes hslda gets it right regarding protection of homeschooling freedoms, which should be under the umbrella of family freedoms. I'd rather HSLDA didn't exist, but at the same time, I can't react negatively to everything they do. (I understand that the VA-Homeschoolers group doesn't react in such a universal manner.) It turns too many of my homeschooling companions off. We don't need that in this day and age of state and federal law increases concerning various aspects of our family lives.
Thanks for your comment Susan. I started to reply here in the comments, but it got long. So I decided to write a new post about it. More on HSLDA
yikes.... :-)
I'll go look.
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