homeschool

California Bills AB2756 & AB2926

April 10, 2018 / 25 Comments

PreserveHomeschoolingI wanted to post some information regarding the most recent CA bills, AB2756 and AB2926, introduced by Assemblywoman Eggman.  AB2756 seeks to single out homeschoolers by listing the nature of a  school on the private school affidavit.  AB2926 aims to impose stricter rules for homeschooling families.  Please read AB2756 and AB2926 to form your own opinion before potentially being influenced by mine.

In light of the Turpin family tragedy, homeschooling in California has been under the microscope.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, the Turpins kept their 13 children locked up and malnourished in their Perris, CA home.  They claimed to have homeschooled their children.  Neighbors didn’t see much of the children, and apparently didn’t think it was odd.  13 children?  Not odd?

Everyone loves to delight in the saying “It takes a village.”  Although it’s obvious that these parents failed their children, neighbors were the village that failed these kids.  No one spoke up because no one wanted to or cared enough to get involved.  And that is the problem, not homeschooling.

As tragic as the Turpin story is and others like it, California’s failing educational system is sensationalizing these headlines to force families to ‘fall in line’ in order to receive more funds for their schools.  For our family, the basis of our homeschool has always been to create an environment for our children to enjoy learning, be inspired by it, and be able to choose their passions and run with them.

AB2926 aims to subject homeschooling families to the below:

  1. Consistent home visits to inspect homes for safety standards
    • I have a trampoline in my backyard that my children have grown up utilizing for their acrobatic skills.  For some, this may seem like a safety issue.  Who gets to decide these so-called safety standards?
    • Their assumption that child abuse happens more regularly in homeschools is based on horror stories.  In my opinion, it’s far more dangerous for a child suffering from abuse to be able to hide it from their peers at school – it only perpetuates the sick cycle.
  2. Additional, specific curriculum standards
    • We are a Christian family, and we try to intertwine our faith in all aspects of our lives.  Some of our subjects are learned from a faith and biblical perspective.  Imposing “additional, specific curriculum standards” is vague and would likely take away my family’s right to practicing our religion
  3. Credentialed teachers teaching their students
    • There is no point to having a credentialed teacher vs. a non credentialed teacher in a homeschool.  We love our children, we want to inspire them, we want what is best for them.  We want to challenge them and teach them to think critically and logically at their own pace – no teaching credential can take the place of that.  Lastly, a teaching credential is not necessary, given that homeschoolers have typically scored higher on college entrance exams than non-homeschoolers
    • Getting a credential would also assume that I have fit the standard of teaching the way that California wants me to.  I don’t want to teach like a California school teacher – that is why I homeschool.  So why would I want to pass their standard, when I have my own?

AB2926 will just create more unnecessary legislation and larger state government.  And, I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but California is broke, so a larger state government would only make living in California more expensive through taxation.  Many homeschooling families only have one source of income, so passing this would force them to end homeschooling altogether.

Public schools have their own set of problems too.  While legislation wants to impose stricter rules on homeschools to get them to become more like public schools, how about they try to fix their own problems first?  Massive high school drop out rates, bullying, drugs, mass shootings, teacher-student sexual relations, and teen suicides are all issues that are of greater importance than nitpicking on a smaller community.

If you feel as I do, please call Assemblywoman Eggman’s office to complain and sign the petition here to preserve homeschooling in California.

 

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