A little over a week ago, I had a lovely evening with a homeschool group in Arthur.  When I’m with homeschoolers, I always feel like I’m with friends as we share a lifestyle that few understand. Unless they live it for a bit.
Arthur is in the heart of Amish country and it truly does fit the quintessential small town USA that I’ve lived in most of my life and appreciated (most of the time).  For example, we (my mother and I) didn’t leave until 10′ish as there were some tempting, aromatic goodies laid out for the meeting and there were several conversations that carried on after the meeting.  Upon leaving was when I looked around, noticed the time and saw that the library staff were gone and the library was closed.  The homeschoolers were trusted to close up the conference room and leave the library in good shape.  There was not the half hour, 15 minute…blast from the intercom telling all library patrons in large towns that it is time to Get Out.  Very refreshing even as those trusted givens are often taken for granted by us small town folks. 

It was a pleasure to finally meet Rhonda Robinson and part of her family in person. Rhonda’s daughter (2nd generation homeschooler) had her youngest attached to her hip and is a generous go-getter  starting up a new homeschool business.   All the little babes in the room were overflowing with irresistible cuddliness and happy bellies. 

I was there to talk with the parents about the rights and responsibilities of Illinois homeschooling, along with parental watch issues.  All the categories to the right were discussed.  If it’s parental/family rights issues, it has the potential and the danger of affecting everyone, including homeschoolers. 

Rhonda helped me out with her expertise on concerns such as UP and mental health screenings. 

The over-compliance demand of the Illinois State Board of Education Home School Registration form was passed around.  I emphasized the particular Data Analysis and Progress Reporting dept. destination of this unnecessary record and that the name, grade, gender, race/ethnicity and DOB of our homeschooled children are demanded in this document.  The name of the curriculum to be used is another line that I would leave empty as we don’t use a curriculum. That’s IF I would fill it out, but I wouldn’t fill it out.  Now that I think about it, the schools don’t have THE name (singular) of a curriculum.  They use whatever the latest trend is in various subjects from various companies. 

Let’s not forget this.  Amy Clemens, Regional Superintendent of the Lee/Ogle office put out a press release calling for homeschoolers to register in August, 2007. She did this in at least two different publications. One being within the Sauk Valley News network and one in the Ogle County News Register. Apparently, she does this on a regular basis. She has had success. The 2006 Lee/Ogle Annual Report shows that there are 88 children registered with that Regional Office. If there were an average of 3 children per family, there are almost 30 Illinois homeschooling families registered in those 2 counties.
I’m very grateful for Harvey Bluedorn’s wise words that were discussed Monday:

Illinois Homeschoolers –­ Eight Reasons Not to Register

One of his points was this:

5. Because the notorious “statement of assurance” which once circulated in Illinois was a legal contract which placed you under the administrative authority of the public school system. Once you signed, your legal status changed from a free (non-government) school to a government school.

I ran into that Statement of Assurance in the Chicago Public School Policy on Home Schooling with their Letter to Parents and the Statement of Assurance Form.

Continuation of a daytime curfew discussion review in next post…..