Nelson Plan Turns Homeschools into Public Schools
BevK April 10th, 2007
Next year Virginia’s government education system will make an unprecedented push to draw homeschoolers into their system.
All right, I admit that I sometimes live in complete oblivion to what’s happening around me locally. I’m busy with family, homeschooling, and an assortment of job/volunteer work, so I had no idea that Virginia was going to try to suck me back into public schooling. This article from HSLDA explains the attempt.
Virginia it seems is doing what other states have done and allowing homeschoolers to join a virtual school. In fact, they are also allowing homeschoolers to participate in an advanced placement academy. And HSLDA warns us that this means that public schools will now have the right to put anything in front of our children that they choose.
You will face a choice: free stuff—or a free way of life. We urge you to choose a free way of life.
Well golly gee Wally. Haven’t we already faced that bogeyman and said NO. It’s another option for homeschoolers to choose or not choose as is best for their child. Sure the public school system is going to play games with money and funding. So what. Joining a virtual class doesn’t mean you accept public school entirely. Those that are most likely to enroll in a virtual public school academy are those people for whom homeschooling is not a way of life, but something they chose because public school became untenable. Usually for safety reasons or a lack of advanced level work. Those folks didn’t leave public school because they are opposed to it on principle. So, they won’t have a problem with a virtual academy that gives them what they want from public school while ameliorating the problems that caused them to leave. It gets back to the definition of homeschooling again, and that’s something that isn’t entirely in the hands of homeschoolers.
