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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 5:52am | IP Logged
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I hope and pray it will never happen to any of us, but if you did get a surprise
visit from the police or CPS related to homeschooling, would you know what to do?
I had a vague notion of "Don't let them in", but until I read the guidelines from HSDLA I had no idea that:
1. You might get a phone call, not a visit
2. It might be the police or CPS or *BOTH*  who show up at your door.
There are different ways to handle each situation. I don't think I would be thinking too clearly if it happened, especially with kids jumping all around .
I have decided to print out and post a list of the HSDLA's recommendations in a place that is discreet but available for easy reference. In six years of homeschooling I have not had any problems,
but it is good to prepared.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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I have been thinking of this, too. Someone just this week shared their current (still ongoing) experience on the Facebook Unschooling group, and it is so scary to hear about it and to hear others sharing theirs. I had always sort of rested in knowing we have good neighbors, but this person's experience is from a strange car driving by and randomly seeing the toddler "alone."
AND, they have inspected her house, giving them lists of fire hazards to change (like the stuff piled near the currently OFF and not being used furnace). It is just a whole 'nother layer of my stress in keeping our house presentable  It is all so invasive and seems to have nothing to do with the initial incident!!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 8:14am | IP Logged
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Oh, that's awful! I have to confess that we have been pretty blase . . . maybe it's just having homeschooled so uneventfully for so long. But we shouldn't be too blase, really.
Because we declined to participate in our state's mail-in program -- you can *opt* to mail your test scores, attendance, and immunization records to the state Department of Non-Public Education yearly, but you can also legally *opt* not to do that -- I have made sure that we were at the ready should a phone call come from the state. So far it hasn't, but we are in compliance with the law: we keep the aforementioned records and scores on file, so I could pull them out at a moment's notice, if asked. Nothing more than that, however, is legally required, and I would volunteer nothing more.
Otherwise, I have thought through my strategy of
1. not letting anyone into my house.
and
2. Calling my lawyer (HSLDA) immediately, before I did anything else.
What, beyond that?
Sally
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Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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It is sad that we are not really free, and a total stranger has the ability to make life very difficult for us. The post we had recently about fences and neighbors had me pulling out my HSDLA stuff to review. And LIndsay's comment about a random drive-by observation only makes me more  . There just seems still to be so much anti-HSing sentiment out there.
Sally, evidently there is a scenario like this:
A police officer *and* a CPS worker come to your door together. They request entry. They cannot enter without a search warrant. In this case you can refuse them entry, or you can tell them that you are closing your door and leaving it unlocked. If they choose to enter, it is without your permission.
You are not obstructing justice but you are also not giving them permission to do this.
The little HSDLA booklet gives you all the right words to say for any occasion. I am glad I have it.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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Remember also that you usually hear about the horror stories.
I have had contact with them once (I've had a couple of escape artists) And I stepped out on my porch to speak with them. The only thing they asked was to be able to see the children (not speak with them or anything). And were just as careful as they could be to check on the children without trampling on our rights.
So while there are those horror stories out there. There are also careful workers who are just as careful about being respectful as some are at trampling all over everyone's rights.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: PLanning for a surprise visit
