June 29, 2007
Day at the Capitol Celebrates Expanded Freedom
On June 12, over a 100 homeschoolers came to Augusta to help celebrate the 20th Annual Home Education Week in Maine. Home School Legal Defense Association Staff Attorney Thomas Schmidt also spoke at the event, and discussed the recent victory homeschoolers in Maine had obtained in L.D. 150.
Many of the homeschool families participated in tours of the Capitol, met their elected officials, and helped pass out packets of information on homeschooling to legislators.
Several families, coordinated by HOME, baked delicious blueberry pound cake for the event. Word of this treat quickly passed from legislator to legislator, bringing many by several tables set up in the Hall of Flags in the Capitol.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Ed Green welcomed everyone to the Homeschool Day at the Capitol and outlined the activities. Ed, and his wife Kathy, founded HOME back in 1990. A local family led the homeschoolers gathered in the Hall of Flags in song, before Schmidt spoke.
Schmidt pointed out that homeschooling in Maine has come a long way from the problems of the late 1970s. Since that time, there have been several threats to the right of parents to teach their children at home, but through perseverance and vigilance, progress has been made. Divine intervention at key points led homechoolers to the current victory of L.D. 150. This bill abolished the Department of Education’s rulemaking authority over homeschoolers.
While homeschoolers should celebrate this victory, we should also continue to remain vigilant in support of freedom, both in Maine, our nation, and the rest of the world. There is a growing threat from international law and from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that could potentially affect our rights to teach our children at home. By standing together for homeschool freedom, we can help pass on the God-given right of our children to teach their own children at home.
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