This past weekend was FULL. We somehow simultaneously attended a National Homeschooling Convention and the local Fall Fair. Our kids had grown all sorts of vegetables this summer and I had made a couple of different pickles, so everyone wanted to check out the new fairgrounds and see if we would win anything. I am very proud to say I won 2nd and 3rd place in the two pickle categories!!!! I always have to check to see if there were even more than 3 in the competition! But apparently there were! Very fun. It makes me laugh whenever we get ribbons. The kids did well, too, picking up a first place in the hay competition, so apparently we grow good hay!
Meanwhile, RM and I attended our first National Convention where homeschooling leaders from across Canada get together to meet and hear speakers talk about the state of homeschooling from province to province. It was really good for us, as relatively new leaders (we've been on the board of our group for a couple years now), to go and hear what other provinces are struggling with. I was most blown away when I heard what the percentage of homeschoolers in Canada actually was.....I would have guessed perhaps in the 15% range of total students, but no......1.5%. That means only 37,000 kids are being homeschooled in the whole country. I couldn't believe it. I knew we were a minority but I had no idea there were so few of us. That explains why people still shake their heads when they hear I'm homeschooling my kids.
The first night of the convention they brought in a young 12 year old, Tanmay Bakshi (google his name and you'll be blown away). This genius kid, who is now homeschooled, was one of the guest speakers (who regularly speaks at IBM and other tech conventions). He talked about how he learned at home watching his dad program when he was just 5. By 9 he had learned to program and had written his first app. Now he's got his own youtube channel where he regularly tutors on what he's learning. He's also a published author and, like I said, is a regular keynote speaker at all the big conventions. He was incredible to listen to and made all of us feel like underachievers. But he also went on and on about the benefits of homeschooling and how it had helped him and his family. He was so excited to be an advocate of homeschooling.
I read yesterday in Ezra about how the Israelites were trying to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple after it had been torn down. They got started, but then a decree was made by the government that it was "illegal" and, by force, they were made to stop. Then, again, they were told by the prophets to start up again. They did, but officials were sent to see what they were doing and approached them with a bunch of questions, "Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? What are the names of the men who are building this building?" Wow. That passage may has well have been about homeschooling. This is pretty much this situation around Canada and the world.
As homeschoolers we are just trying to quietly build our families, our individual "walls" (being our children), our "temples", but government officials simple don't like it. They insist in provinces like Quebec that we teach all the curriculum that they demand and they ask for names of people who aren't. Then, children are taken away if the parents don't follow what they government says. Yet, all we want to do is be the primary caregivers and teachers of our children, but they say no, the government is responsible. Mind boggling. My kids. My responsibility. Not to them. They say, your kids, our responsibility. Very dangerous.
Later on in Ezra it says, chapter 6, "...let the house be rebuilt....restored and brought back..." It even says to the governor and his associates to "keep away" and to let the people "alone". It then suggests instead of hindering the building that the governor in fact supply "whatever is needed" and "without fail". Not only that, but anyone who doesn't do what the edict says is to be "impaled" by a beam and "shall be made a dunghill"! That is truly what the government should be doing. Instead of hindering homeschoolers, they should be doing all they can to help! Instead of of constantly intervening and trying to control, they should be keeping away and leaving us alone! Impaling people and making them a dunghill is perhaps a little strong, but the point is.....don't make up laws that hurt....instead let us govern our own families as we see fit!!!!
The convention was put on by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and their whole reason for existing is for this purpose alone - to defend the rights of homeschoolers. When the young 12 year old boy got up to talk, he went on and on about HSLDA and what this organization had done for him and his family. Without the help from HSLDA, his parents wouldn't have been able to take him out of school and work with IBM. He was being challenged and they made it possible for him to succeed and thrive in the homeschooling environment. To think he would have been made to stay in a gr. 7 class when he was so clearly gifted makes no sense, but that's the government's thinking.
I left that convention so grateful for where I live and very grateful for HSLDA. So far, it's still legal and we don't have too many officials breathing down our neck....yet. But it's illegal in Germany and other parts of the world. Quebec and the East Coast are struggling with tons of government officials and the right to homeschool. Alberta gives money to homeschoolers, but then there's a catch.....you have to teach what they want you to teach. We, in Ontario, don't get any benefits even though we pay taxes for school, but at least there is some freedom. We all prayed that that freedom would remain. We can't take it for granted at all. HSLDA says, "We do what we do so that not just you, but your grandchildren and their grandchildren will always be able to homeschool." That's my prayer.
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