I tried to sell this site so I could move on… do something else with my life. I run a large family rights website that keeps me pretty busy in my available online moments. However the site didn’t sell, and I’m glad because after taking a few months off, I’m motivated to do something with this site again. Why not? I still care about homeschooling independently.

I’m like many independent homeschoolers – I get frustrated by the lack of understanding many homeschoolers show. Partly they’re just frightened by the oppressive laws we deal with here in the USA these days, in many states. Some parents are victims of misinformation. They think they have to do what the public school establishment demands.

But no, we are the parents and we have the God-given right and responsibility to make decisions for the benefit of our children.

Our government has become a behemoth of red tape and statutory requirements. There are very few states where true independent homeschooling can be done. This is what I’d love to see changed in the future, but it is very, very hard. Once a law has been established limiting the rights of a parent to homeschool independently, it is very difficult to go backwards and delete the law from the books. You can count on more than half the legislators in any state being old stuck in the mud stogies who aren’t going to budge on a law overseeing the activities of homeschoolers. Any move toward independence, now that it has been sucked away, will be met with resistance.

So why do I bother? Well, there are a very few states where parents can homeschool relatively independently. I want people to know this freedom does exist in various places, and that in a natural common law society we’d have the rights to educate as we feel is best.

Meanwhile, even in states where there are a lot of restrictive requirements regarding homeschool activities, there’s still room for creativity in curriculum planning. There’s nothing more loving a parent can do than to take into consideration the needs and desires of their offspring and give them an education designed just for them.

A newly announced homeschooling law in the UK would force parents to open their homes to community agents sent to inspect homeschool curriculums. I can’t tell if this “announced” law is “new” or “proposed” … the article is Crackdown on home-schooling as parents face annual checks and registration.

In the UK government agents don’t have access to private homes unless there’s a crime in progress… yet homeschooling families would be subjected to forced in-home inspections by officials.

Amy Newstead of Education Otherwise stated that “Parents have emailed me saying they were typing in tears…”

I’d be crying too. Governments that are too repressive instill a self-protective attitude of rebellion in their citizens. It is a terrible way to live.

Homeschool parents don’t need to track their children using a system of credits because we know our children and can tell whether or not they’re learning anything of value. I preferred the portfolio method of creating documentation for high school aged homeschoolers. With that method the student’s best work is kept in a file, eventually to be organized in a looseleaf binder that could be shared with college counselors.

Homeschool parents can also create a transcript but don’t expect your high school to accept credits just because you say the subjects were covered.

Today I’m happy to see I’m not alone in rejecting the system of credits set up by public school administrators. Homeschoolers in Missouri are fighting against a 2009 state House bill, 43-116, which would require high school dropouts to earn 16 credits in a half-day program while they work part-time in a “skilled profession” (I’m not sure what they mean by ’skilled’.) The Missouri homeschool support group, Families for Home Education, monitors legislation and takes action to protest any pending bills that could interfere with homeschool freedoms.

Families for Home Education formed in 1983 and brought a class action lawsuit against the state department of child welfare (Division of Family Services, aka. DFS) for taking homeschooled children away from their parents. They fought against typical CPS injustices by having parents keep a journal of all DFS contacts. The parents then learned to write affidavits documenting harassment, threats, and unjust actions by DFS agents.

Also sued in the class action lawsuit were three school superintendants, the Commissioner of Education for the state of Missouri, twenty DFS employees, and the juvenile court. (Ellis, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. O’Hara, et al., Defendants.) This resulted in a judicial decision that the Missouri legislature should create a homeschool law for the state.

There’s no doubt that the group, Families for Home Education, has clout because they represent hundreds of member-families throughout the state. If any homeschool familiy wants legal protection, there’s no better way than to join a state homeschool advocacy group.

Credits can stay in the public schools… as something special for public school employees who can’t remember who’s completing worksheets and who’s not any other way. Homeschool educators know their children well enough to dispense with the credit concept entirely.

A few years back I considered moving out of California. My first criteria for a state to move to was that the state had to be open to independent homeschooling. I researched quite a few state statutes and finally decided Idaho would be a great choice for a homeschool family to move to, so it is the first state I’m writing about here at Independent Homeschooling.

According to Idaho homeschool law, no homeschool registration or sign up procedure is required. Parents choose and purchase curriculum. No state funding is available.

There is a compulsory school attendance law for Idaho:

Idaho Code 33-202. School Attendance Compulsory.
The parent or guardian of any child resident in this state who has attained the age of seven (7) years at the time of the commencement of school in his district, but not the age of sixteen (16) years, shall cause the child to be instructed in subjects commonly and usually taught in the public schools of the state of Idaho. Unless the child is otherwise comparably instructed, the parent or guardian shall cause the child to attend a public, private or parochial school during a period in each year equal to that in which the public schools are in session; there to conform to the attendance policies and regulations established by the board of trustees, or other governing body, operating the school attended.

The best sources of updated information on Idaho State Homeschool Law are the homeschooling page at the Idaho Department of Education, and an extensive compilation of Idaho homeschool law found at the Idaho Coalition of Home Educators website. If there are any other good sources, please let me know by leaving a comment to this article.

There are quite a few helpful homeschool organizations and homeschooling support groups in Idaho:

Idaho Home Educators Association

Boundary County Homeschoolers, PO Box 723, Bonners Ferry ID 83805.

CHAMP, 2451 Watts Lane, Payette ID 83661.

Christian Home Schoolers of Idaho State (CHOIS), PO Box 45062, Boise, ID 83711-5062.

Emmett Christian Homeschoolers’ Outreach, 638 Monte Vista Dr., Emmett ID 83617.

Family Unschooling Network, 1809 N 7th St, Boise, ID 83702, (208)-345-2703.

Haven Homeschoolers, Mountain Home group, 930 North 13th East, Mountain Home ID 83647.

Heartland Home Educators – Central Idaho , Cascade: (208) 382-5561; Council: (208) 253-4496; McCall: (208) 634-3460; New Meadows: (208) 347-2463.

Home Educators of Idaho, 3618 Pine Hill Drive, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815, (208) 667-2778.

HOPE of the Palouse, 307 North Monroe Street, Moscow ID 83843, (208)882-1049.

Idaho Coalition of Home Educators, PO Box 878, Eagle, ID 83616.

Inland Northwest Christian Homeschoolers.

Magic Valley Home Educators, 2226 E. 3775 N., Filer ID 83328.

North Idaho Home Education Association, PO Box 1133, Post Falls ID 83877-1133.

North Idaho Home Educators Association (Christian), PO Box 2885, Hayden, ID 83835-2885.

North Idaho Unschoolers.

Palouse Home Learning Alternatives, 802 E White Ave., Moscow ID 83843-3923, (208) 882-1593.

Pocatello Regional Christian Home Educators, P.O. Box 3033, Pocatello ID 83206, (208) 226-5381, or 13191 N Smith Rd., Pocatello ID 83202-5225, (208) 237-8163.

Port Cities Home Educators, PO Box 2052, 1880 Old Spiral Hwy., Lewiston, ID 83501, (208) 743-0891.

Rexburg Area LDS homeschoolers.

Snake River Home Education Association, 204 5th St., Idaho Falls ID 83401.

Southeast Idaho Homeschool Association, 1440 Eastridge, Pocatello ID 83201.

Southern Idaho’s Great Homeschool Tracker, 2226 East 3775 North, Filer ID 83328.

Southwest Idaho Homeschooling Information.

Spokane Homeschoolers (includes homeschoolers in Eastern Idaho).

Treasure Valley Homeschool News, 5301 W. Amity Rd., Nampa ID 83687, (208)887-6770.

…

If you have an Idaho homeschool website or group that isn’t listed here, or if you are an Idaho blogger, let me know so I can include your link here.

[Updated July 13, 2007 to include the Idaho Home Educators Association at the top of the list.]