Drawing the line in Mississippi

Natalie explains how the blurring of lines between independent home education and virtual public schools may be causeing problems for independent homeschoolers in her post Drawing the line in Mississippi

Blurring the line between independent home education and public school at home has real consequences, and there are a lot of people (VPS service providers, state education departments, legislators, etc) who benefit from the confusion. If VPS makes public schoolers look like homeschoolers, efforts to make homeschooling look like public school may gain momentum. Mississippi Senator Sampson Jackson II has submitted a bill that would require homeschoolers in Mississippi to conform to public school benchmarks and submit to standardized testing. After four consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008), Senator Jackson’s persistance may finally pay off. HSLDA has issued an emotional elert to combat this bill for the first time, resulting in a slew of emails to “stop this horrendous bill.”

Clarity in language is a tool that must be utilized to combat confusion, educate families and expose opportunists. Other states have fought to make this distinction clear. The time has come to draw the line in Mississippi.

Please read her entire post at Home Eduction Magazine.