Dozens of states across the US are now cracking down on religious exemptions and vaccination requirements for children attending grade school. And while the debate continues on the advisability of the state to enforce vaccination protocols on families, no matter what their personal beliefs may be, it has created a renewed interest in the viability of home schooling children to avoid what some families see as a contravention of their rights as citizens and as families.
New York State, for example, recently passed legislation that deprived 26 thousand children their religious exemptions, forcing their parents to either get them caught up with vaccinations or pull them out of public school. Many parents decided to do just that, and began homeschooling, or joining a homeschool cooperative where as many as a dozen families pool their resources to have their children taught outside the public school system.
The National Homeschool Association says it has seen an unusual increase in membership this winter, and credits that growth, in part, to what it calls ‘oppressive school board actions and unreasonable expectations for working parents.’
In most states all the parents have to do to remove their child from public school is to send a letter of intent to their local school board, giving them thirty days notice that they are pulling their child or children out of the public school system. No other legal action is necessary.