John H. Lerchbacker III of Clinton Twp., NJ, has been accepted to the U. S. Coast Guard Academy.  He has been homeschooled.  To be accepted into the Academy, “one must be “triple-qualified” academically, physically and medically.   Admission to the academy is highly selective and less than 400 appointments are offered annually.”  Read the full article here.  Congratulations, John, and may God richly bless your future!

Sweden has made an unprecedented move regarding Domenic Johansson and his parents, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) reports.  In Sweden, attorneys are always appointed and paid for by the courts.  But when their lawyer, Ruby Harrold-Claesson tried to visit Domenic at his school, social workers cut off all contact, which led the judge to remove her from the case.  The court has shown contempt for due process, a basic right of all people.  There are many in Sweden who are upset by this, as well as many here in the United States.  What do you think?

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) reported today that a Missouri homeschooling family was alerted by their health insurance company that coverage for their daughter would be dropped if they didn’t enroll her in an accredited school.  Upon receiving a letter from HSLDA, the company restored their benefits, but also stipulated that twice a year they would have to provide a notarized statement that she is being homeschooled.  As Wendy Colpetzer McCullough commented on HSLDA’s Facebook page,  “Can someone explain to me why it’s any business of an insurance company to know how our children are being educated? And to require a biannual notarized statement? Do they require the same thing from public school children? I’m glad they got their benefits back, but the whole situation bothers me.”  What do you think of this?

In Florida, the parents of a 13-year-old girl are trying to enroll her in a local community college (see article here).  According to the article, “The teenager recently finished online college courses in Spanish, macroeconomics and U.S. government, scoring A’s in the final exams in April. She also scored far above average in three necessary college-placement tests in November in reading comprehension, sentence skills and algebra required for dual-enrollment high-school students.”  She has finished her high school courses at home.  Now what?  The college has said no.  They have an age limit of 15 years.  They cite safety as the main reason for their age limit.  What do you think?  If your child was gifted and finished his or her high school courses at a young age, would you want him or her in a college setting?  What’s your personal minimum age for college for your kids?

Is anyone else surprised by this?  A pastor is upset about a homeschooled boy’s article because he defended life.  The pastor wrote a letter saying he is not getting an “actual education.”  He says, “As a person of faith and a citizen of this democracy, I pray that Justin’s vote at least be informed by real research, not just religious ideology masquerading as science.”  Wow.  Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) responded.  What are your thoughts?

First it was the Sun Herald of Biloxi, MS with their editorial entitled “‘Unschooling’ is a lazy parent’s idea of education” (see original article here).  Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) issued two responses, and the Sun Herald also issued another editorial.  And as if we needed any more, ABC has now written an article on unschooling.  Though they are subtle, they also question unschooling, and perhaps homeschooling in general.  What do you think of the media’s portrayal of unschooling, and in general, homeschooling?

According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), New Hampshire has had a hostile legislative environment the last few years (story here).  Although nothing has changed in their laws (yet), HSLDA has decided they will move New Hampshire’s homeschool friendliness status to “red” on their State Laws Map.

It seems that although homeschooled kids consistently outperform public schooled students, the state governments increasingly do not trust us.  What are your thoughts on this?  Sound off in the comments or on our forum!