Personal Memories of HSLDA Canada Founding
Written by Dan Reinhardt (August 22, 2009)
It was 1982. Homeschooling was something only a few brave pioneers were doing. The attitude from the public school boards was quite antagonistic, as they were convinced the government was responsible for the education of all children, not parents. Consequently, most people were homeschooling “underground,” that is, without officially informing the school boards. As soon as school boards found out, parents were immediately under all kinds of pressure to conform to the system, and even had to face threats that their children would be removed from their homes because of “truancy.”
And it wasn’t just the school boards. The first question your friends would ask when they found out you were homeschooling was, “Is that legal?” In some provinces quite frankly, it was not. In other provinces it was only allowable under the designation of “special education.” In all provinces the relationship with school boards was tense and usually antagonistic. But parents were convinced in their heart of hearts that God had given children to parents, not the government. So whether it was “legal” or not, they were committed to the higher law of God, to raising and educating their children.
Bolstering Confidence in Homeschooling
These difficult circumstances meant parents had to be thoroughly convinced of their rationale and philosophy to homeschool. Bolstering their confidence in the efficacy of homeschooling was the research of Dr. Raymond Moore. Raymond and Dorothy Moore could rightly be called the founding fathers of homeschooling. Their research published in books like Homegrown Kids and Better Late Than Early gave scientific evidence to what parents knew intuitively. With the conviction in their heart and the research in their hand, parents were willing to face down official opposition to homeschooling.
With the conviction in their heart and the research in their hand, parents were willing to face down official opposition to homeschooling.
The most intimidating aspect of homeschooling was the threat of legal action against parents. School boards used the threat of removing children from homes as a way to coerce parents to come under the system.
The system’s way of educating is so foreign to the home environment. The system evolved out of the simple necessity of how to handle 30 children in a room with only one adult present. Behavioral controls, segregating children into age segments, and standardized curriculum are all the natural and needed methods of handling mass education in a public system. None of these are needed, however, in a home environment for education to happen. As the research of Raymond and Dorothy Moore pointed out, education happens naturally, simply, and without stress when integrated into a normal home environment.
In Alberta, Dave and Aline Stasiewich were one of those brave pioneering families that were experiencing educational success at home. They were so brave that they even let others know they were doing this! CBC, on several occasions, came to interview this strange phenomenon in Alberta. Their brave example encouraged many other families in Alberta and across Canada to step out and educate their children at home.
Encouraging Homeschool Families
Another practical way to help homeschooling families was to gather them in annual provincial conferences. Dave and Aline were instrumental, along with other Alberta homeschooling families, in starting AHEA, the Alberta Home Education Association in 1986. Dave had heard about two lawyers in California who had started Home School Legal Defense Association for homeschooling families in the USA. HSLDA had been able to successfully defend the right of parents to educate their children at home. Their influence had even changed the laws in many States.
So Dave Stasiewich invited HSLDA co-founder, Mike Farris, to come speak at the 1991 AHEA Conference. What Mike described as the experience of homeschoolers in the USA 10 years earlier was very similar to what we were going through in Canada right then. The amazing success of HSLDA USA to strengthen the homeschooling movement was a great encouragement. At the end of his speech, Mike Farris polled the room with the question, “How many of you would support an HSLDA version in Canada?” I turned around to see the response — a significant number of hands were immediately raised. That was all Mike needed to decide that they would come to Canada to encourage homeschooling in this Country.
Those two Californian lawyers, Mike Farris and Mike Smith, had the wisdom to recognize that HSLDA in Canada would need to be led by Canadians. The summer of 1991 was when I, along with other Canadian homeschooling dads, was approached to be on the founding board of HSLDA Canada. HSLDA was formally incorporated in September, 1991, and the first board meeting was held on January 25th, 1992. And so the HSLDA adventure began in Canada.
HSLDA Canada Begins
As with any startup, the early days were a humble beginning. We began with a clear vision to meet a pressing need. Parents needed strengthening to exercise the freedom to educate their children at home without undue intrusion by the government. Because of the power of the government, this would require legal defense for families. An annual fee of $125 provided member families with free legal assistance on homeschooling issues, free standardized achievement tests, and a free bimonthly newsletter. While HSLDA Canada was founded on Christian principles, we believed our duties as Christians required us to help all homeschoolers regardless of their faith; and so HSLDA Canada became the first national homeschooling entity in Canada serving all homeschoolers in all provinces.
The technical administrative tasks were handled by the HSLDA USA office, while the phone for Canadian members was answered by Aline Stasiewich in her home as the Canadian office coordinator. Jordan Lawrence, a lawyer from HSLDA USA, came to Canada on occasion to help us with legal matters. He traveled across Canada helping homeschooling parents know they had rights under Canadian law, rights that were being stepped on by overbearing school officials. HSLDA taught us how the law worked, and the limits that were on public school boards. Bolstered with this additional information, homeschooling parents began to stand up for their rights across Canada. They no longer simply acquiesced to the demands of school boards.
I will never forget the next meeting our family had with our public school officials. The superintendent listed all of the intrusive requirements, reporting and submitting to home visits and testing we would have to do, far beyond what the law required. We listened respectfully, but then pointed out that none of this was required by law. In fact, this meeting was not required by law, and we excused ourselves. The stunned look of shock on his face confirmed that he had never had parents stand up to him before. We never had another meeting with him again.
From the 20 year anniversary edition of the Court Report (the former name of HSLDA’s homeschooling periodical). Click the image for a larger version.
Increased Advocacy Throughout Canada
Public school officials must have had similar experiences all across Alberta, because it wasn’t too many years later that the regulations for the school act were changed that allowed much more freedom for homeschooling. Over the next few years increased freedoms were replicated across the 10 provinces of Canada. This would have been impossible without HSLDA Canada.
Over the next few years increased freedoms were replicated across the 10 provinces of Canada. This would have been impossible without HSLDA Canada.
The board of HSLDA Canada recognized that while Jordan Lawrence had provided excellent initial support, we needed a Canadian lawyer to represent Canadian families in court. Chris Corkery was hired as the first Canadian part-time lawyer to help us with individual cases in Canada. The work load continued to rise, and the board soon recognized we needed a national director. This person would need to be Canadian, a lawyer, and a homeschooling father who could vigorously defend Canadian homeschooling families.
It was in 1994, at the National Leadership Conference in Phoenix, that the Board invited Dallas Miller to become the National Director of HSLDA Canada. This began the journey for Dallas and Marj to homeschool their own children and give leadership to HSLDA Canada for the next 10 years.
An office was opened in Miller’s hometown, Medicine Hat, Alberta, and the entire operation of HSLDA Canada was now centralized and run from this office. We are convinced God led us to the right person for the building of HSLDA Canada. Over the next 10 years, Dallas Miller grew the organization from its humble beginnings to a truly national entity impacting all 10 provinces.
The Role of HSLDA Canada
The unique role of HSLDA in Canada is to strategically partner with homeschooling families and provincial groups. HSLDA exists to strengthen homeschooling families and healthy provincial groups. It’s the families and provincial groups that are the heroes of homeschooling. They are the ones actually doing it! They simply need the encouragement and support to keep doing it well.
HSLDA offers only the services that are difficult for local support groups and provincial organizations to provide. HSLDA does the “heavy lifting” for homeschooling across Canada, picking up those heavy stones that weigh down the leaders of volunteer boards, and clearing the path of rocks that hinder the journey of homeschooling families.
Services like:
- Legal defense for the parental right to educate their own children;
- Legal defense for religious freedom in Canada;
- Legal action to prevent children from being taken from healthy families;
- The National Leadership Conference: an annual gathering of provincial leaders for the encouragement, training, and national perspective on the homeschooling movement in Canada;
- Nationwide research on homeschooling in Canada: encouraging to homeschooling families and useful for provincial organizations dealing with school regulations;
- Insurance for homeschool group activities.
The ultimate goal of all of this activity is to nurture healthy families across Canada, and the raising of godly children to be the leaders of tomorrow. I don’t know of any other organization in Canada that has done more to advance this vision. I am thrilled to be a part of it
— Dr. Dan Reinhardt, HSLDA Canada founding board member
