You care about children and their education. So you probably know that civics and government is a required high school subject in most states.

Why is that?

Turns out, civic knowledge is important! Every American has the right and the responsibility to protect our freedoms and values by engaging in the political process.

That is what HSLDA Action is all about. HSLDA Action works to defend your rights as homeschoolers in the political arena and on the federal level. The simple fact is that if the people who make laws are not willing to defend our homeschool freedoms, we will lose those freedoms.

Thus, HSLDA Action is part of the strategy to safeguard homeschooling freedoms.

How do we do this?

In order to be effective, we must understand how our government works. HSLDA Action has three major initiatives designed to teach people about their government and about how to engage in the civic process.

Generation Joshua

This is our teen civics organization. It equips and empowers teens to understand how our country works and how they can engage in the political process for good. Generation Joshua membership is only $35 per student, and $90 per family. . . and HSLDA members save $10 per student and $20 per family! Learn more here.

Congressional Action Program (CAP)

This program is designed to train and equip citizens in the nuts and bolts of grassroots activism on the federal level. In practical terms, we help people learn how to effectively communicate with their congressman and senators about the issues they care about. Email us at cap@hslda.org for program requirements.

Legislative Action Center

This is your one-stop-shop to find out about bills that impact homeschooling on the federal level and in your specific state! Learn about bills from our staff’s summary and analysis, access the bill text itself so you can make your own judgments, find your legislators, easily contact them directly through our website, and much more. Check it out here.

These are great ways to get engaged in the process in a very impactful, in-depth way. The power that a unique, individual homeschool advocate has cannot be overstated. However, there are some things HSLDA Action can do, as an organization that represents those individual advocates, to advance homeschool freedom.

We give homeschoolers a consistent, knowledgeable and trustworthy voice in government and politics. One of the primary ways we do this is through political engagement with candidates and elected leaders. We have three ways to accomplish this:

  • Student Action Teams (SATs): HSLDA Action partners with Generation Joshua, our affiliated youth-civics organization, to organize grassroots deployments of politically minded and motivated high schoolers. These students will volunteer for our PAC-endorsed candidates, earning valuable hands-on experience in grassroots activism, while also helping protect freedom for their own families in the future.
  • Political Action Committees (PACs): Our PACs are dedicated to seeking out, endorsing, and providing active grassroots support to pro-family, pro-homeschooling candidates on the federal level.
  • Federal Relations program: In order to keep the government out of places it doesn’t belong, you have to have someone on Capitol Hill to keep an eye on what legislators are doing. And our Federal Relations team works every day with legislators—either to convince them to vote on good policies or to prevent them from passing harmful bills.

These programs are all designed to help advance and protect homeschool freedom and prevent discrimination. It’s a strange job where if, at the end of the day, absolutely nothing happens—if no one tried to restrict freedom, liberty, or the right to wear pajamas to class—it’s a successful day. While political engagement is not the end-all and be-all of homeschool advocacy, it is a vitally important aspect of ensuring the best educational options for our children and making homeschooling possible for the next generation.

Why join HSLDA Action?

Now, one of the most fundamental principles in politics is working with people. If you want to accomplish anything, you need friends—friends who will support your efforts on shared values.

Let us be that support for you! By being part of HSLDA Action, you are represented through our staff on Capitol Hill, who are able to regularly meet and discuss the issues with our partners.

We also provide a variety of resources for you—such as the booklet, “What Is Homeschooling?”, included inside this special issue of the Home School Court Report. This handy booklet offers a broad overview of the demographics, the laws, and the benefits surrounding this unique educational method. (Planning to visit your own representative? Feel free to give them the enclosed booklet. Or request an additional copy, or copies, to give away. Just email us at connect@hsldaaction.org!)

Your HSLDA Action membership also strengthens our ability to communicate the importance of educational freedom for families. That is the message that makes homeschooling possible.

We hope you will join us in making that message loud and clear. You can get started here.