In today’s digital world, making sure you know what information you’re sharing—and how it’s being used—is more important than ever. You shouldn’t have to guess what data is being collected about you, and you shouldn’t have to worry whether it’s safe.
Here at HSLDA, we want to be open about what kinds of data we gather, how we protect it, and what we do with it. And we empower you to make choices about your data, while giving you confidence that your information is secure—so you can focus on what’s really important.
Privacy Policy
Our privacy policy is guided by three principles:
- Transparency: You have a right to know what personal information we collect.
- Confidentiality: When you share information with us, you’re sharing it with only us.
- Control: You get to choose what you share and what you don’t share.
All information we gather is for the purpose of optimizing your HSLDA experience. Whether you’re a long-time donor or a potential member, our goal is to give you an experience that’s personalized and relevant to you. At the same time, we respect your privacy and do our best to protect any and all information you’ve shared with us.
Continue reading to learn more about the types of data we gather and what we use it for. Any data you provide to us can be updated or deleted by sending us an email.
What Kinds of Data We Collect
Identity & contact information
Giving you the best HSLDA experience starts with knowing a little bit about who you are. When you’re filling out a form on our website, it usually asks for your name, email address, and/or phone number. This is so that we can keep in touch. We also gather information about US citizenship status and marital status as part of the membership application process.
To edit your name or contact information, click here.
Transactions
When you donate to HSLDA, purchase a product or service, or pay for your membership, data is collected about that transaction—such as the purchase date, amount, and type or category. We periodically review transactions and combinations of transactions to better understand your needs and recommend products or services you may find helpful.
Location
We gather location data on all of our members, donors, and customers in the form of a mailing address given during the application or checkout process. As you browse our website, we may also collect your location from your IP address (or ask you to identify your location) so we can better customize the content you see or the alerts and messages you receive. Our intent is always to give you the most relevant information based on where you live. While location data is connected to many of our internal systems, we do not provide your location to outside parties.
To edit your location data, contact us.
Student data
While providing student information is not required for membership with HSLDA, many of our products and services record your student’s information as part of the service. For example, grades earned in an HSLDA Online Academy course, or an image submitted for a Student Photo ID card, are retained and kept confidential. Other information about your student—such as age, grade level, or special needs (if any)—can help us identify products or services relevant to you. Providing this information is always optional.
To view, add, or remove data about your student, email us.
Personal attributes
During the course of your application or other interactions, we may learn details about your personal life such as participation in homeschool co-ops or groups, military or missionary service, how long you have been homeschooling, or even income statements. Some of this information helps us identify discounts you can receive on our products or services. Additionally, since some offers and resources from HSLDA are relevant to limited segments of our membership, we often customize these offers based on personal attributes.
Survey data and form submissions
Taking a survey is always optional with HSLDA. But if you do take a survey, we will often collect demographics and interest information as part of the questions. This data in turn may be used to identify offers or resources that fit the responses you’ve given. Information you submit in forms on our website may also be used to give you a more personalized and streamlined HSLDA experience. Submitting a form is always optional, though in some cases it may be necessary to access certain resources we provide.
Note: HSLDA frequently uses third-party platforms to present surveys, so we strongly recommend not describing a legal situation or asking for legal advice in a survey response.
Engagement or interactions
HSLDA monitors activity on our website as well as on emails we send. This includes learning what HSLDA web pages and emails you view, how and when you view them, and what you do next. Our hope is that we can identify topics of interest and evaluate our messaging to better serve you. To accomplish this goal, we use a variety of tracking and data collection methods, such as cookies, redirect links, and tracking image pixels.
We sometimes use third party services to collect, combine, and aggregate user engagement data. Here is a list of the services we use. For some, we link to instructions on how to remove your data:
- Google Analytics: Google provides one method to prevent tracking here.
- Hootsuite
- Hotjar: To learn what information Hotjar may have collected and find out how to disable that tracking, go here. This page also includes
information about how to block all cookie tracking.
- Marketing Cloud Account Engagement: Tracking data can be blocked and deleted; please email us for instructions.
- Quora
- VWO (Visual Website Optimizer)
Attorney consultation records
If you’re an HSLDA member, you can call our attorneys any time to ask a question about your state’s homeschool law or your legal situation. In some cases, you may talk to one of our attorneys even if you’re not an HSLDA member. This can be sensitive information. Although we keep records of these conversations so we can better assist you the next time you contact us, we treat any conversation you have with an HSLDA attorney as strictly confidential. We will never share your specific questions or comments—or details about your legal situation—with anyone outside HSLDA. There are times when we make general public reports about the number of questions we get on certain legal issues, but we do not reveal specific conversations or situations without permission. We won’t even share whether you’re a member or not.
Information for European Users
By providing us your information, you authorize us to collect, use, and store your information outside of the European Union.
International Transfers of Information
Information may be processed, stored, and used outside of the country in which you are located. Data privacy laws may vary across jurisdictions, and different laws may be applicable to your data depending on where it is processed, stored, or used.
Last Updated: 12/8/2023