Washington Times Op-ed—Bush Did His Part


by J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President

At a time when President George W. Bush will leave office with some of the lowest approval ratings in the history of the presidency, there is one group of citizens who should be grateful for the work he did on their behalf. Mr. Bush has been a strong supporter of a parent’s right to choose home education.

When he was governor of Texas and the right to homeschool was being debated, Mr. Bush strongly defended the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children via homeschooling.

When he came to Washington, he carried that same support for homeschooling and parental freedom with him. On Sept. 27, 2001, he directed a letter to a group of home-school state leaders gathered at the Home School Legal Defense Association National Leadership Conference.

Mr. Bush encouraged the leaders with these words: “Education is one of our nation’s top priorities. To help ensure a bright future for America, our young people must have the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a dynamic and changing world. Home-schooling contributes significantly to this vital endeavor by giving parents the opportunity to take a more active and direct role in their children’s education.”

At the beginning of Mr. Bush’s first term, homeschoolers were facing significant obstacles at the federal level. One area of injustice for homeschoolers concerned their entry into the military.

The initial problem was that the various branches of the military refused to recognize home-school diplomas as equivalent to those issued by an accredited public or private school. Public school graduates were placed in Tier I of the military’s three-tier enlistment categories and consequently given priority for advancement in the various military branches. Most other enlistees—including graduates with GEDs and home-schoolers—were placed in Tier II, which made it much harder to make career progress in the military.

In 1998, HSLDA helped negotiate a six-year pilot program whereby homeschoolers would be placed in Tier I. Their attrition rates would be evaluated at the end of that time to determine whether they were indeed good candidates for military service.

Regrettably, at the end of the pilot test in 2004, homeschoolers were again placed in Tier II. HSLDA, however, showed where the pilot test could have been flawed and suggested to the Department of Defense that it change its policy based upon data that showed that home-school graduate enlistees who scored above the 50th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) had attrition rates comparable to those of traditional high school graduates.

With the assistance of the president, the undersecretary of defense pronounced a policy effective June 1, 2007, that again placed homeschool graduates in Tier I for a four-year period ending Sept. 30, 2011.

Tier I is especially important to enlistees because only Tier I enlistees are eligible for additional benefits, such as special education, specialized training and monetary incentives up to $70,000.

Each branch of the service has slightly different criteria for determining whether an enlistee is truly a homeschool graduate, but the three primary components are: a high school diploma, an official transcript and proof of compliance with the enlistee’s state homeschool law.

On behalf of the many homeschool graduates, past, present and future, who desire to serve our country in the military, we thank Mr. Bush for his assistance through the Department of Defense to recognize the value of homeschoolers in the military, and the unique nature of the education they receive. We trust that future commanders-in-chief will be supportive of homeschoolers who want to serve their country in one of the armed services.

Michael Smith is the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He may be contacted at (540)338-5600; or send email to media@hslda.org.

A Gift From

I got an e-mail from Old Orchard this week and thought others would like this gift also.

Fill out your address and they'll mail you $5 in Free Coupons for Old Orchard Juices. Use the coupons to try out two new Healthy Balance flavors Pomegranate and Pomegranate Cranberry. Limit one per household.

Reindeer Facts

A one day reindeer can run faster than a man.
Reindeer make a popping or a clicking noise as they walk.
The sound is produced by a tendon sliding over a bone in the foot.
Some reindeer in the wild eat Reindeer moss.
A velvet coating peels away from the reindeer's antlers(male & female) every year after adulthood is reached.
This velvet is prized by the Oriental Culture.
Caribou & reindeer are the only deer in which the doe also bears antlers.
Reindeers snort when alarmed; males roar in rutting season.
The males have an inflatable pouch of skin under their throats
which amplifies their roar.
Reindeer are good swimmers.
Their coats are thick, with a heavy, dense coat of wholly under fur.
Trapping air, their coat gives them buoyancy in the water; it also is waterproofed by stiff guard hairs on top.

These facts come from Santa & Co.

Book Review

Moon Shines Down by Margaret Wise Brown.

This would be a great book to give to a child or adult for Christmas this year.

Margaret Wise Brown wrote a very interesting children's book,
that reminds us about other children in the world.
I think children and adults will enjoy reading this book.
The pictures are very colorful and interesting to look at,
Linda Bleck is a very good artist.
The main character is a cute koala bear who travels
to different places in the world asking God to bless him and them.
The book starts off with blessing a dutch boy.
Then it is off to Switzerland, the far East, Mexico, France, Australia,
and many more places asking God for blessings.
The koala bear also asks for blessings for animals, fish and for Christmas.

If your looking for a book this year to give to someone, this is the one.
I enjoyed reading this book and it reminded me to pray for others around the world.
I am giving this book to my nephew, I am pretty sure he will also enjoy reading this book or having his mom read to him. So pick one up this year for a great gift to give this year.

Coupon for Toys

Today KB Toys emailed me a special savings and
encouraged me to share with everyone.

This is what it said:

Come to KB Toys November 17th and/or Monday
November 24th during normal buisness hours
and shop the buy 3 get the 4th free Sale
on everything in the store and enjoy an additional
20% off your entire purchase when you present your invitation.

You must present your invitation to recieve the additional 20% off.

Free Gift

I just got this in an email from Right@Home about
a Home & Holiday Gift Pack. This is limited to the
first 20,000 to register, this may sound like a lot
but they go by fast. So go to Right@Home and get your gift today.

Give A Meal

How exciting we get to help give a meal to
someone that is hungry by using coupons.
For every coupon you redeem from the November 2, 2008,
P&GbrandSAVER coupon booklet, you actively help P&G
donate a meal through Feeding America™.*
That's up to 16 million meals to after-school programs,
emergency shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens
during the holidays.
So use those coupons and feed America.