HSLDA, MPE, alphabet soup … for some reason, homeschool organizations abound with acronyms! If you’re new to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), here are a few good reasons why we’re such passionate supporters of their work (from our own Kansas City homeschool community):
HSLDA membership is like a homeschool insurance policy.
Nowadays homeschooling is much more mainstream than it used to be, but it wasn’t always this way.
In Home School Heroes: The Struggle & Triumph of Home Schooling in America by the late Christopher Klicka, Chapter 8 includes Kansas and how it went from being one of the most restrictive states on homeschooling to one of the most progressive – partly because of HSLDA!
Today thousands of homeschool families are thriving in Kansas and Missouri, but we don’t take our freedoms for granted.
As one mom writes, “You never know how laws will change or when someone will call you in over any little thing. Even going to the store in the middle of the day could trigger a phone call.”
Another mom said she views her HSLDA membership as an insurance policy, just like she views her medical insurance – none of us expect major problems, but we’re thankful for it if problems arise.
HSLDA provides a wealth of free homeschool resources.
You will get the best legal aid and advice through HSLDA, but it doesn’t stop there.
Resources include teaching ideas from preschool through high school, supplemental resources such as AP classes, and materials for struggling learners. One mom in our community writes, “If you are dealing with dyslexia at all, they are a huge resource.”
Explore just a few of these resources on HSLDA’s website.
If you subscribe to HSLDA’s e-lerts, you will also keep fully updated on homeschool news and current events in the homeschool law community.
HSLDA gives you affordable access to expert legal counsel.
We love the testimonial of one homeschool mom, who asked her husband (an attorney) whether they should join HSLDA.
He said they absolutely should because HSLDA’s expertise is in this kind of law, and the yearly fee was less than what he charged for an hour of his time!
“Imagine how much it would cost to hire an attorney to do what HSLDA does for its members if you find yourself in need of legal representation!” she writes.
The yearly membership of $130 breaks down to $12 a month, or about 35 cents a day.
Another homeschooler writes that when she had an issue with her local school district, HSLDA immediately provided her with a quick response and the expertise she was looking for.
Your HSLDA membership benefits other homeschool families.
Sometimes it’s easy to get hyper-focused on our own niche and forget that the rest of the world exists out there!
Because of its national (and increasingly international) presence, HSLDA provides support for families who live in areas that are hostile to homeschooling.
A great example is the Wunderlich and Schaum families in Germany, who have fought to be free to homeschool their children for many years. We continue to hope for the day when homeschooling will be legal in that country.
Additionally, the Home School Foundation is an offshoot of HSLDA that supports families in need throughout the homeschool community.
HSLDA lobbies for homeschool-friendly legislation.
Who represents homeschoolers to our federal government? Historically, it’s been the HSLDA. Thanks largely to their efforts, we’ve seen an increasing amount of legislation passed that’s favorable to homeschooling freedoms. We want to keep it that way.
As one homeschooler writes, “Your non-homeschooling friend would have teachers, school counselors, etc. to vouch for her if she were wrongly accused, but since we don’t have that, it’s good to have someone in your corner.”
As part of our commitment to HSLDA’s work, we’re happy to provide $15 off an annual HSLDA membership fee when you join MPE at a Family-level membership and higher. Please sign up with MPE first, and then we can provide you with a group discount code; it cannot be applied retroactively to your HSLDA membership.
We have updated this blog post, originally published in August 2015, for timeliness and detail.