Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Mike Farris joins us today to discuss a major legal victory for homeschoolers, the California Court of Appeal case, In re Rachel L. Mike, this case was heard in a state appeals court. Why did we consider this the most important homeschooling case in recent history?

Mike Farris:
Well, Mike, the number of homeschoolers that are in California demands our attention all by itself. It is by far and away not just the largest state in general, it is the largest state in homeschooling. And I would guess that it ranks near the top in percentage of families that are homeschooling, as well. So just in sheer numbers, it’s a big deal.

The case had turned on a principle that, in the earlier decision, that said, homeschooling’s illegal—not just for this one family, but for virtually every family in California. And the legal trends that come out of California have important, and sometimes not very favorable, implications to the rest of the country. So to stop a bad decision and to reverse it in California was essential for the long-term maintenance of our freedom.

And it’s the first time in a long time that any court had said that you can’t homeschool your kids at all. The battles today tend to be on more implementation kinds of issues, rather than the right to homeschool at all. And this is about the fundamental right to homeschool at all, and we’re just praising God that we won at the end of the day.

Mike Smith:
Well, yes we are. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.