The time I decided to hold my ground

"It's not a big deal so I will just ignore it"... That right there is what's wrong with our generation, that is the problem!

I'm usually the follow-the-rules, don't-stir-the-pot, avoid-confrontation type. I grew up thinking all confrontation is unhealthy and would be seen as bad testimony. As I grew into an adult, I came to the realization that some confrontation is not only healthy, its sometimes necessary, yet nurture takes over at times. However, recently a situation came up where I felt very convicted about my usual way of doing things (or more like "go with the flow" and not do a thing), and after spending some time seeking God and asking for prayer, I sensed God leading me to stand firm and try to make a difference, even if just a small difference.

You see, it's easy to just let go of things when they don't affect us directly or "it's not a big deal", but what happens when it actually does affect us? What if the first person who went through the situation had taken a stand, paving the way for when you had to go through it?

Well that's what I'm hoping to accomplish in this situation, to pave the way to future homeschooling parents, by not giving in to my son's elementary school's request for information [not required by law] regarding our upcoming home school endeavor.

Let me give you some background: 
Texas law is one of the most favorable for homeschooling. Per law, all I need to do is notify the school in writing (by mail or email) of my intention to home school, that's it. It's one of the many benefits of living in this great state. Unfortunately, some School Districts are not aware of the law, or choose to ignore it and request additional information "for their records" or "to protect the child", and while Im sure they most likely have the best intentions by doing this (and no, I dont think they are "out there to get me"), it robs us of our freedom and of our right.

This is the form I was given at my son's school:

What's the big deal about this form you ask? Well, that's exactly what I thought... at first...yet the more I read through it, the more anxiety I felt, I just didn't feel peace; so I sought advice from the ladies in my home school facebook group, many who have been doing it for years and some live in Texas as well. I found a lot of support, good advise and wise insight. One lady pointed out something I didn't even notice about that paragraph in the middle, she said:

"In that paragraph there is enough to give them legal grounds to say you aren't properly homeschooling, not using the curriculum they allow, essentially giving the school bird oversight into their homeschool."

WOW! After reading the paragraph again, it's all I could say, WOW! I didn't even think about it in that way, seem I didn't fully understand the paragraph! (God is so good to me!) The lady who posted this comment has no idea what a huge blessing she was to me with this. 

People, We need to be informed. 

We need to do research,

We need to know our rights, and defend them!

As Christ followers we want everything we do to reflect Christ, but that doesn't meat we need to say yes to everything nor ask questions. In fact, having all the information will enable us to make wiser decisions and in this situation, it's become clear to me that not completing this form helps protects our rights and the freedom offered by this state's law, and though I may never know exactly how much I really "helped" the next parent who walks into the school to withdrawal their child, at least I know I was obedient to what God called me to do in this situation....

We can protect our rights while still being kind and godly.

The time I almost sent a withdrawl letter to my kids' public school

The day was finally here... I was about to press "send" on an email that would officially notifying my kids' school of our decision to home school... or so I thought...

When we made the decision to home school, we started doing lots of research; this let us to the Texas Home School Coalition's website, which has been extremely informative. There, I found a Withdrawal Sample letter/email to send to the school.

A few months later (around Jan 2016) I decided to call the school district's office just to see what they had to say. The person who assisted me was very nice, she said all I needed to do was send a letter of intent to the principal and call student services to inform them, but she recommended I wait until the end of the school year (unless I was planning on starting to home school right away), so I did.

In mid May; I was at the elementary school and decided to stop by the office to see if they can tell me who needs to receive the withdrawal letter regarding my daughter. She was in pk4, in the ISD system but would have been going to a different school. To my surprise, they gave me a form to complete. This form asks for basic information (name, current school, grade, etc.), but it also asks for the name of the curriculum we will be using... As far as I'm concerned, Texas law does not require home schools to provide anything other than our intent to homes school-not that I mind providing that information, just don't see the need if its not required. 

So I read through the THSC website again, and read this:

I know it may seem a bit silly to some, but its a bit frustrating to have to do extra stuff that is not required by law. It kind of makes me feel like they are adding extra hurdles to jump through for the sake of making it difficult, and since I'm usually a rule-follower, I usually just end up jumping through all the hoops that are put in front of me... 

But where do we draw the line? 

Its one thing to follow the rules, God calls us to obey our earthly authorities, but I fear that I will need a bigger backbone to stand up for my kids and how we obey and follow God's calling for our family, which sometimes means not follow all the earthly rules. 

In situations like these - doing one thing or the other I don't think would be considered disobedience in God's eyes - what we need to do is pray, even about things that may seem small or insignificant, and seek godly consul. When we start to seek God in every situation, big (I'm good at this one) or small (I really struggle with this one) we get used to including Him in our everyday lives and not only does our relationship with Him grow, we also grow as Christ followers so He can trust us with bigger revelation and bring upon greater breakthrough. 

...sigh...

So for now, that's what I'll do.