January — Michigan: HSLDA filed a civil rights case against a prosecutor, Arnett v. Middleton, to protect seven home school families targeted for prosecution. HSLDA dropped the suit when the prosecutor quickly prepared an opinion stating that home schooling was presently legal and that law in Michigan was vague.

March 10 — Michigan: Police officers arrived on the Loudon family’s doorstep with a warrant for the arrest of their six-year-old daughter. She had been below compulsory attendance age the previous year, when a case charging the family with criminal truancy was dismissed. The court canceled the warrant after HSLDA intervened.

March 12-14 — Texas: The first annual National Home School Basketball Tournament, drawing 26 teams from four states, marked a milestone in home schooling sports history!

April 2 — South Carolina: The General Assembly passed legislation naming the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools as a legal, alternate source of approval for home schooling parents.

April 6 — Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh School District agreed to settle HSLDA’s federal lawsuit, dropping all criminal charges against Mrs. Deely, expunging her criminal record, clarifying their notification requirement, and paying damages and attorney fees.

April 24 — North Dakota: The state district court in Bismarck ruled in favor of HSLDA and the Birst family, saying that families can qualify to home school under either the private school exemption or the home-based education exemption. However, the court also required all home schools applying to be private schools to comply with all fire, health, and safety regulations pertaining to private schools. HSLDA filed a motion with the trial court to clarify this opinion and to attempt to reverse this reading of the private school law.

May 15 — Alabama: A home schooling father’s criminal truancy conviction was reversed by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in Maas v. State based on the violation of his statutory due process rights.

August 28 — Alabama: HSLDA member Helene Richards, a mother of four children, had been the subject of an anonymous child abuse hotline tip and had refused to let a social worker into her home without a search warrant. The Court of Civil Appeals held that an invasion of a parent’s home was a violation of the legal right to privacy.

August 31 — Tennessee: HSLDA filed a civil rights suit challenging the college degree requirement for parents home schooling high schoolers in Floyd v. Smith. This case is still pending. (The name of this case has since been changed to Goggins v. Smith.)

September 25 — Ohio: The NCAA announced that it was reinstating home school graduate Jason Taylor’s football scholarship to the University of Akron. The organization had earlier pulled his scholarship because of a rule involving the calculation of grade point averages.

October 15 — Oregon: The National Home Education Research Institute released Marching to the Beat of Their Own Drum: A Profile of Home Education Research.

November 3 — Illinois: HSLDA worked with Illinois home schoolers to narrowly defeat a statewide referendum that would have made public education a “fundamental right.”

November 10 — Michigan: Michael Farris presented oral arguments for the DeJonge family before the Michigan Supreme Court.