May 31, 2008

Best of Crosstalk (First Aired May 29, 2008)

Chris Klicka is the Senior Counsel of the Home School Legal Defense Association as well as Director of State and International Relations. He was in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area for the 2008 Wisconsin Christian Home Educators Association Conference.

According to Chris, home schooling is a common choice that parents all across America are making where parents teach theirs children at home. This enables parents to teach their children utilizing a tutorial or one-on-one type of instruction. This way if the child learns more slowly, the parents can slow down and help the child catch up or spend extra time on a given subject. On the other hand, if the child is gifted, the parents can let that child move ahead without having to hold them back because of other chldren that have to move at a slower pace.

Another advantage to home schooling is that it allows parents to educate their children according to scriptural principles that are currently banned from the public school system.

Subway restaurants recently decided to sponsor a writing contest that excluded home schoolers. Many home schoolers contacted the Virginia office of HSLDA about this and HSLDA then contacted Subway at the highest levels. Eventually a letter of apology was sent by Subway to HSLDA noting that Subway is planning a future contest that will include home schoolers.

Also discussed was the threat to home schooling in California, where on February 28, the Court of Appeals came down with a ruling that all home schooling teachers must have a teaching certificate. This ruling basically meant that most of the 150,000 home schooling families in California would have to stop their schooling programs. HSLDA asked people to sign petitions to make an appeal to the Supreme Court of California. HSLDA received over 240,000 signatures in a short period of time. They also worked to ask for a rehearing from the Court of Appeals and eventually the court decided they would vacate their original decision. Chris noted that a rehearing has been scheduled.

More Information

For a free home school packet, contact the Home School Legal Defense Association at:
540-338-5600
http://www.hslda.org

To learn more about the Wisconsin Christian Home Educators Association contact:
414-425-6324
http://www.wisconsinchea.com