I know from experience that homeschooling support groups can (intentionally or not) make a mountain out of a molehill.
One time I received a pointed letter from a school, telling me that my kids needed to show up (in about a week and a half) for annual assessment testing. This was outrageous and clearly in violation of the state’s homeschooling requirements.
Nothing surprises me, but this did seem odd, because experience told me that the administration was lazy - too lazy to wage ideological battles.
As I reread the letter, noting certain details (e.g. a request not to make medical/dental appointments that week), I realized that in the true spirit of incompetence, the schools sent this letter to all parents, even though the information was relevant only to public school parents and students.
I called the school to clarify, and indeed that was the case. The administrator did want to know if my children were going to participate, or if we had gone with another option. Makes sense, as he would need to have enough tests.
I dealt with the situation locally, and intelligently. No need to freak out and call HSLDA. However...
A few weeks later, in a regular HSLDA email update, there it was. Included in articles documenting the latest attempts to usurp homeschooling rights, was the story of my state sending out these letters. Nowhere in the article was the letter put into proper context. It was reported that (paraphrasing) “several of our members contacted us to report that their local schools sent letters blah blah blah requiring their children participate in the state’s assessment testing”. Of course we can sleep easy though, HSDLA got right to work and beat back the beast. Yeah, whatever.
Trouble is, knee-jerk parents, or parents who put themselves on the radar by ignoring basic requirements, draw negative attention to the homeschooling movement. Not hard to see how activist judges will then see a green light to “solve” these problems.
ping
Exactly right. I wonder if the story of the little boy who cried wolf is ever taught by these homeschoolers who like to do this...
Of course we can sleep easy though, HSDLA got right to work and beat back the beast. Yeah, whatever.
How else are they going to get membership and $$$?