Dear Nevada Homeschoolers, March 7, 2008

Emotions of shock, fear and indignation continue to prevail amongst
homeschool supporters nationwide regarding the California appeals
court ruling on homeschooling last week. Many people are wondering
how this will affect homeschoolers in other states. Our answer is
that it depends on the laws in each state.

Just after our new homeschool law here in Nevada was passed last June
I remember being asked on several occasions what was "different". The
most obvious difference is our one-time Notification. But
underneath, homeschooling in Nevada was completely changed! The
analogy I used was a bridge over a river: you can drive over a
turn-of-the- century wooden bridge, and unknowingly cause structural
creakings and stresses. Or replace it with a modern super-structure
designed to handle modern traffic, and the bridge will hardly know
you're crossing. Although Nevada has had a homeschool law of sorts
on the books since 1947, it gave broad powers to the local pubic
school district and to the State Board of Education. In fact, a 1982
court case in Humboldt County resulted in a court opinion very
similar to this California case; homeschooling was not allowed. Had
our new law not passed, this California case almost certainly could
have had a huge negative affect on Nevada homeschoolers. There could
be significant impact in states with laws similar to our old law, or
in states similar to California where homeschooling isn't even
defined.

Earlier today Dr. James Dobson had several important guests on his
Focus on the Family radio show. Roy Hanson of Family Protection
Ministries (the California version of Nevada Homeschool Network),
Michael Farris of HSLDA, and others discussed the California
situation. You can listen to the broadcast for free with this link:
http://www.oneplace .com/Ministries/ Focus_on_ the_Family/ Default.asp

I also saw the San Francisco Chronicle had this homeschooling case as
their front page top headline. It was encouraging to read this:
"State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued a
statement saying he supports "parental choice when it comes to
homeschooling. " That was encouraging! To read the entire article:
http://www.sfgate. com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi? file=/c/a/ 2008/03/07/ MNJDVF0F1. DTL

It's important to know that, unfortunately, this case has it's roots
in a family where there have been several allegations of abuse over
the past two decades. We've read some court documents - we don't
know if they're "public" information and don't want to be part of
spreading them if they're not - that depict some of the abuse the
children have allegedly gone through. So we encourage people to sign
the petition to depublish the court case (HSLDA has it right on their
home page http://www.hslda. org/), but we suggest people refrain from
jumping to the defense of the family. The case centered around
abuse, not around homeschooling. This court opinion, however, went
far beyond the immediate case at hand, judging all homeschoolers in
the entire State.

We will continue to keep everyone updated as we learn more. The
bottom line for Nevada is, be thankful! And keep California
homeschoolers in your thoughts and prayers.

NHN Officers
Elissa Wahl, Laura Siegel, Carl Lucas, Kelley Radow, Barb Dragon,
Frank Schnorbus