Joanne O'N.

You might want to check it out. I am passing on what a friend of mine just in response
wrote to the editor. I am not sure if they will publish it or not. Joanne O'N.

Editor,

Your article, "Huckabee Draws Support of Home-School Families," said that conservative
Christians are “the vast majority” of the homeschoolers, which is inaccurate. A 2003 U.S.
Census survey reported that only 33% of homeschooling households cited religion as a
factor in why they homeschool.

It is possible that homeschooling liberals and moderates may swing the political tide.
According a 2001 survey by the The Barna Group, the majority of American homeschoolers
are non-white. And don't forget that many evangelicals may be led by their conscience to
vote for a Democrat based on his or her record on the environment.

The statement, "As a group, [homeschoolers] are … in a constant struggle with public
authorities" is misguided. Homeschooling removes the child from the local authority's
jurisdiction, so mostly any "struggle" with outside parties is resolved. There are ample
legal protections for homeschoolers in most states. Colleges now welcome applications
from well-educated homeschoolers.

peacefulhorizons2005

Hi, was just going thru posts & saw this one.

I was looking into Huckabee's stance a couple months ago because he
was endorsed by the HSLDA PAC.

But according to the actions he has taken, he really isn't so good on
homeschooling. When he was governor of AR, he signed laws LOWIERING
the required school attendance age, and made it more difficult for
people to take their kids out of public schools in order to
homeschool. (See the bill # H.B. 1724 - arkansas.)

Someone passed this link along to me awhile ago, and after checking
into Ron Paul I will cast my vote for him. He is very strong on
individual rights and has been so for his 20 years in Congress. AND he
speaks out publicly about getting govt out of private lives when it
comes to education, especially homeschooling:

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/homeschoolers/

There is also a short video clip on the page where you can hear Dr.
Paul address homeschooling.

His website has a ton of other information on other topics such as
immigration, taxes (he wants to eliminate the federal income tax),
healthcare, social security, 2nd Amendment rights, etc. Dr. Paul's
main message is we have to go back to following the Constitution.

Dr. Paul has a HUGE grassroots movement but he isn't so well-liked by
the establishment so he hasn't been too well covered in the media
until more recently. However, there are tons of video clips at
Youtube.com including a Meet the Press interview, the Situation Room, etc.

Hope this information is useful to those of you concerned about the
interference of govt in homeschooling. I know that is a BIG concern
for me!

Suzanna



--- In [email protected], "Joanne O'N."
<seagullcaller@...> wrote:
>
> You might want to check it out. I am passing on what a friend of
mine just in response
> wrote to the editor. I am not sure if they will publish it or not.
Joanne O'N.
>
> Editor,
>
> Your article, "Huckabee Draws Support of Home-School Families," said
that conservative
> Christians are “the vast majority” of the homeschoolers,
which is inaccurate. A 2003 U.S.
> Census survey reported that only 33% of homeschooling households
cited religion as a
> factor in why they homeschool.
>
> It is possible that homeschooling liberals and moderates may swing
the political tide.
> According a 2001 survey by the The Barna Group, the majority of
American homeschoolers
> are non-white. And don't forget that many evangelicals may be led
by their conscience to
> vote for a Democrat based on his or her record on the environment.
>
> The statement, "As a group, [homeschoolers] are … in a constant
struggle with public
> authorities" is misguided. Homeschooling removes the child from the
local authority's
> jurisdiction, so mostly any "struggle" with outside parties is
resolved. There are ample
> legal protections for homeschoolers in most states. Colleges now
welcome applications
> from well-educated homeschoolers.
>

Sarah Wilson

>

Hi All

Can anyone offer me any advice - I am not really sure what to do in a
tricky situation.

Last week my FIL sadly passed away, he is the father of my second
husband and so not my childrend true paternal grandfather, however they
have known him for 7 years, and as they are 11 and 9 that is quite a lot
of thier life really. DH sees the girls as 'his' children, and although
they do see their birth father the girls do see DH as daddy.

Whilst FIL was ill DD's went to stay with their true paternal
grandparents, and when FIL died DH understanably wanted 'his' children
with him - as he was upset and so were the girls, we felt it was a time
to be together.

However MIL decided this was too stressful for her, it was OK for DH and
I to stay with her but not the girls (we live overseas so had flown home
to be there). This result in DH's sister having a go at him for
upsetting mum and us ending up staying in a hotel.

So to my problem - although youngest DD is seeming to be coping with the
situation, sad about grandad but she is coping in a 'normal' way, elder
DD is really struggling the whole situation.

She is sad about grandad but feels that is wrong as he wasn't her 'real'
grandad, she cant understand why 'grandma hates her', and she is worried
that if DH is pushed by his mum he will chose her over us and DD will
loose her daddy - or I think that is what she is trying to say to us

We have tried saying that everything will be fine - but I dont think
that is doing the trick, and it doesnt help that we dont really know
what the problem was for MIL

Any ideas how to get to the bottom of what is bothering her, and also
any ideas on things we can do the help her through her grief, and also
to reassure her that daddy is staying and everything will be OK.

.....families can be such hard work sometimes :-)


Thanks in advance
Sarah