WOW Donna!!!

That certainly is some edifyin' piece of exhortation gal!!!  I needed that.

This California case is very close to me as I spend a good deal of the year there.   I'm grateful that at this time I'm on the other side of the nation and in one of the most lenient areas of the country for home schooling.  However, I do read the HSLDA newsletters, as I'm sure you do, and it's heartbreaking to see some of the troubles that people run into while homeschooling their kids.  Part of the wording used to oppose homeschooling is "to protect children from the cloistered environment of a home setting" and to "provide children with a wider social scope than can be attained by family input". 

 I know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, and not only do I feel like I have God's grace and leading, but I can see the fruits in my daughter.  While she was in school, she had lost all desire to learn and was just pushing along to pass tests with no real incentive. Now she's like a different child; she asks questions about everything, wants to go to museums, theaters, travel.  Has developed a real thirst for science and geography, things she was never interested in before.  I marvel at the phenomenal choice of curriculum and teaching aids available to us through conventions and catalogues, awesome books and CD's which I would have devoured as a child.   So there is no way anyone could convince me that I've made a mistake, but the fear of governmental persecution can be very real.

Thanks again for your words Donna, I think I'm going to print out your post and put it up by my desk.  An occasional read will lift my spirit when I read these things happening around us.  You are a real jewel Donna, a woman of so much wisdom and grace.  God bless you abundantly!