The New York Times ran a story recently on the takeover of the speakership of the Texas House by moderate Republicans. "When the Republicans nearly lost their majority in the Texas House in November, a small group of moderates from the party joined with Democrats to oust the archconservative speaker, Thomas Craddick of Midland." The article also reported that Staus, the new speaker, "voted against … [Read more...]
Don’t Shoot Till You See the Whites of Their Eyes
January 27, 2009 By
I continue to see from different sources e-mails and comments that quote a comment or policy proposal by President Obama or a Texas legislator calling on the recipient to take action or we will lose either our freedom to homeschool or some other freedom. The danger of such messages is twofold.First, they cause well meaning but uninformed people to react in fear, and they in turn spread the alarm. … [Read more...]
Selling Out Our Country to Illegals
January 24, 2009 By
by Barbara Simpson San Francisco politicians have no connection to reality. In the midst of huge financial struggles for the city, the Board of Supervisors began issuing municipal identification cards last week to anyone who provides an ID and a utility bill with a local address or evidence of a child in local public schools. It sounds innocuous except that the main, and likely only, … [Read more...]
Gather Your Children and Watch Your Property – The Texas Legislature Is in Session
January 23, 2009 By
The 81st Texas Legislature officially began the 2009 legislative session almost two weeks ago. In 1866, Gideon J. Tucker said, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe when the legislature is in session.” That is particularly true for home school families. This year there is a great deal of uncertainty around the country regarding our home school freedom. An Arkansas legislator has … [Read more...]
Who Needs Truancy Laws? We Have Daytime Curfews!
January 22, 2009 By
More and more Texas cities are jumping on the bandwagon of daytime curfews. In 1995, the Texas legislature enacted a law to allow cities and counties to adopt daytime curfews under the reasoning that students not in school were driving up crime rates. Homeschoolers have generally opposed these ordinances because home school students sometimes get caught up by over zealous police officers. (Read … [Read more...]
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Texas?
January 15, 2009 By
HB 188 is a bill filed by State Representative Roberto Alonzo from Dallas that has a very strong potential to undermine the right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. Let me give you a few examples:"Child has a right to live in a safe, comfortable home in which they are treated with respect ..." … [Read more...]
Texas Leads in Home School Growth
January 13, 2009 By
According to a recently released report by the U. S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the number of home schooled students in the country reached 1.5 million in 2007. This represents a 74% increase since its first report in 1999 and a 36% increase since its 2003 estimate. The percentage of the school-age population being homeschooled increased from 2.2% in 2003 … [Read more...]
