Freedom!

Freeeeedooooommmmm!!!

Picturing a blue-faced Scotsman? :)

I'm picturing a world where school can be on days when other kids are out of school.
A world where you can take the day, week, or even month off school if you want to and pick it up whenever and wherever you feel like it.

A world where teaching about dinosaurs doesn't have to include a lot of fiction and speculation presented as total fact. 

Where the strong beliefs your family holds so dear
aren't outlawed and someone else's beliefs aren't infiltrating your child's curriculum. 

Where your child grows in the faith or culture of you family instead of vaguely being aware of it.

Picture a world that is surrounded with the love and joy of watching your kids grow and being a main part of it instead of looking at yearbooks and school photos to 'watch' them  grow. 

Imagine a place where if your kids loves one subject, their whole world could be on that subject and they could get excited about learning because the lessons are tailor-made just for them.

"Imagine there's .. no schedule....that you have TO keep...No time of day that you're forced to...get up from your sleep.....Oo-hoo-ooo...You may say I'm a dreamer...." 

Sorry, got a little Beatle-y on ya there.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, to me Homeschooling equals freedom. That is why I love homeschooling. And I really appreciate the world of opportunity it provides. A world of learning outside the box. And it's a freedom that I, for one, am very grateful to have here in the Great land of America.

 Let me just take a few minutes to really appreciate those individuals who have sacrificed so much for to have
these freedoms.

Thank you, brothers and sisters! With your dedication, your loyal volunteering allows the rest of us to not have
to be drafted, and we are able to do what we love to do! Your sacrifice keeps our wonderful country free! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, speaking of Homeschooling freedom, does anyone know what our rights are as homeschooling parents? Are you
aware of the laws of the state in terms of home education? Do you know the Senators that are lobbying on your behalf?
Are you keeping watch over the new bills? Ones that come into the government, that may slowly chink away at your rights as a parent to make the best decisions about education for your own children? If the government continues to take over control, we may lose those rights our military family have fought so hard for. 
There are groups that keep watch over this kind of thing, advocate groups for home educators that will email you when you join their mailing lists. They pay attention to those new bills that have key phrases that may change what our rights are.
Here is the info for the HSLDA:

Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
Phone: (540) 338-5600
Fax: (540) 338-2733
Email: info@hslda.org
Web: http://www.hslda.org

Also, you can look up your local Senators and ask them about home school laws and changes. And you can bring them a pie on pie day, that usually makes them happy :)

My husband thinks that this is sounding really "activisty", so, I'm gonna wind this up, or down, or however it ends...

Freedom isn't free. We should take hold of our freedoms and take advantage of those rights we have, but NEVER take them for granted, because we may not always have them if we do.
Thanks for reading.