[Mamaka]

I agree. I think it's vitally important to preserve homeschooling rights and freedoms and would advocate for such. What Teri said was right on.

Just so I'm clear, I don't consider myself a homeschooler. When asked I say "my ds attends a virtual academy" Next year I will probably say "we homeschool part time and attend a VA part time." But like I said previously, it depends on my audience as to whether explaining the semantics is important (i.e. when talking to my il's who just don't get it, we pretty much say homeschooling or let them assume that, to another hs'er I'd be clear about vs).

What I take exception to is the assumption that VAs and families who choose to use them are doing so because they are uneducated about their schooling choices or are unsure of their own ability to school at home. Or that we're "less" because we're making this choice (accepted nor embraced by neither ps'ers or hs'ers) and are being duped by the gov't or the SD's. But that is probably OT and should be the subject of another thread.