The Funny Farm: Photo #3

Idaho--Victory for Homeschool Freedom Bill

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,
Senate Bill 1017 has passed both the House and the Senate unanimously!
The bill is headed for Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, who has indicated his willingness to approve the bill.
This is a significant victory for homeschool freedom in Idaho. These amendments being adopted into the compulsory school attendance law to protect homeschooling will enable Idaho to avoid the danger experienced by California last year. In California, the Court of Appeals ruled last year that homeschooled students could only be taught by parents who were certified teachers--the main reason was that there was no specific provision in the law allowing parents to individually teach children. For several months, the right to homeschool hung in the balance. By God's grace, and a lot of hard work, the Court of Appeals granted a rehearing and accepted our arguments. The judges totally reversed themselves so that homeschool freedoms now continue in California.
In Idaho, with these new amendments being passed and soon enacted into law, we will avoid the California situation entirely.
Senate Bill 1017 will do the following:
1. It specifically adds private home education in the compulsory school attendance law.
2. It removes the requirement that this private instruction has to be "comparable" to the public school curriculum.
3. It clarifies that homeschoolers do not have to teach any certain number of hours or days per year.
4. With this language added, the law allows other friends or relatives to provide the teaching--not only parents. This flexibility is important for times of crisis where parents want to continue homeschooling but need to have the support of someone outside the home to provide the instruction for a time.
We are thankful to have contributed to the joint endeavor with ICHE and CHOIS to make this change a reality. We recommend that you send a thank-you to the two sponsors (listed below) who did a lot of hard work to get this bill passed in the House and Senate.
You can reach Sen. Russell Fulcher at (208) 332-1340 or rfulcher@senate.idaho.gov and Rep. Bob Nonini at (208) 667-5762 or bnonini@house.idaho.gov.

Upcoming homeschool events

Looking for an event I set up?
Want to know the oddities and events I find interesting for homeschoolers?
Check back here and I'll promise to keep it updated!
If you arrived here via my email, then you know how to contact me ;-)

*Kick Ball First and Third Wed. of each month at 1:oo. Starting May 6th. All ages.

*Planetarium: Solar Systems and Constellations
FULL

*Violin Lessons:
FULL

*Homeschool Swimming every Friday 10:30-12:00
Ongoing September thru May.

*Homeschool Bowling every Tuesday 12:30: Set up by a friend and the kids really like going once in a while.

*Homeschool Ice Skating: First Friday monthly, ongoing.

*Horseback riding lessons: FULL

*The Fair Are your kids entering something in the fair? My kids have a wall full of ribbons from paintings, sculptures, photography, flowers, this-n-that. It's a great experience! Now is the time to think about what they'll want to do. Spring is in the air! Get out there and snap those pictures :)

* Shakespeare drama camps this summer. Register now!