We Will Not Conform: Portrait of a Home School Family

We will not conform.  We will not conform.  We will not conform.  No, it isn't a chant or a mantra.  It's a statement of fact.  Something that we as grass roots activists should be used to by now.  How about another group of folks who could be considered full-time protesters?  Another group of people who might be used to not conforming for even longer than the tea party groups have been around.  How about a group of dedicated home schoolers?  This is the portrait of a home school mom and dad.

The home school mom and dad are those parents who decided to throw off the yolk of traditional education and have already chosen not to conform.  They decided to keep their children at home, for whatever reason, but  no matter if you publicly educate your children or privately educate them, we all ultimately want a well educated child.

A home school family consists of parents who decided to go against the grain and took their child's education in their own hands, quite literally. I should know, I'm one of them.

I am fortunate enough to live in the great state of Texas, where home schooling is still legal.  Home schools are considered a private school, and we aren't regulated by the state or required to take standardized testing.  We are free to purchase our own curriculum or to design our own.  Then, we are free to choose our own path to graduation.  In other words, home schoolers have freedom in Texas!  Cool, right?

So, what am I getting at?  I'm saying that all of that could change.  Not through state standards, but through the introduction of Common Core.  Since its introduction into mainstream schools the move has begun to change ACT and SAT tests to meet the Common Core standards.  This means that home schools may be forced to teach according to those same standards.  Here is proof from one of my previous blog posts that this can and will happen:

The Common Core will impact home schools and private schools in at least three ways. First, designers of the expanded statewide longitudinal databases fully intend to collect data about home school and private school students. Second, college admissions standards will be affected: Common Core standards for college readiness will be used by institutions of higher learning to determine whether a student is ready to enroll in a postsecondary course.¹⁰ Third, curriculum and standardized tests are being rewritten to conform to the Common Core.   

Unless we act.  Home schoolers, like grass roots activists are usually at the ready when called to action.  I was fortunate enough to be one of five bloggers that were invited to attend the Glenn Beck event called We Will Not Conform: LIVE Making Common Core History that was held last night in theaters across America.  

We Will Not Conform was put together by the Glenn Beck team and hosted with other big names in politics and national grass roots leaders, who are no strangers to not conforming.  Names  such as Michelle Malkin, Dana Loesch, David Barton and Matt Kibbe of Freedomworks.  The event was held in an effort to taking one of many 'first steps' to raise awareness and ultimately defeat Common Core.  

So what now?  The Glenn Beck folks put together a plan for any activist to initiate and employ in their respective communities.  For the link, click here.  We need to start a discussion with your neighbors and friends and your families for that matter so we can stop the march towards common kids and Common Core.  We need to recognize the strength of our own voices and our own actions.  Listen to Matt Kibbe's words of encouragement for us all when he said, "Parents represent a voting block that is unstoppable."  To be unstoppable, though, we have to get started.  As one of the grass roots leaders said last night, "How to defeat Common Core, get the facts, get organized, show up."

We Will Not Conform LIVE: Making Common Core History-A Glenn Beck Event

Heard of Common Core?  I'll bet you have.  Heard of Glenn Beck?  Two for two?  Not bad!  How about the upcoming event that's being put together by Glenn Beck about Common Core?  No?  Well, stay tuned and I'll give you all the deets! 

Next Tuesday, July 22nd in Dallas, Glenn Beck along with Freedomworks, which is a group I'm sure you've also heard of before, is teaming up to put on an event called We Will Not Conform LIVE: A Night to Make Common Core History.  To better explain what this is, I've taken the explanation directly from the event website.  This event is... "A LIVE interactive experience during which cinema audiences will actively engage with Glenn Beck and other experts as a comprehensive plan to fight back against Common Core is crafted in real time."

"Fathom Events and Glenn Beck invite you to experience a night of action against Common Core when Glenn Beck’s We Will Not Conform is broadcast LIVE to cinemas nationwide on Tuesday, July 22 with a second showing on Tuesday, July 29."

"This isn’t a typical show - it’s an interactive experience and a rare opportunity to make a real difference in America’s education system. We Will Not Conform is your chance to not only hear from experts like Michelle Malkin, David Barton, and others but to join LIVE with fellow theatergoers across the country to develop tangible strategies in the pursuit of enacting real change in our schools. By the end of the night, the brainpower, experience, and passion of cinema audiences nationwide will be captured in a unified plan of action distributed to all participants."

To get more information, I was fortunate enough to send in some questions about the event to Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of Freedomworks.  Kibbe, along with Ellen Wheeler, also from Freedomworks, will participate in the event hosted by Glenn Beck.  Freedomworks has been working on the Common Core issue for a while now, among other things, like trying to defeat and defund Obamacare, promoting conservative candidates for House and Senate races and keeping activists around the country engaged and involved.

Kelly Horsley: When did Freedomworks first start talking about Common Core:
Matt Kibbe: In the fall of 2012

Kelly Horsley: Why do you feel it is important to team with Glenn Beck to do this event?
Matt Kibbe: "It's a live interactive event linking parents, teachers, students, and more from across the country with a live event in Dallas. This will bring everyone together, on the same page, to develop a comprehensive action plan."

Kelly Horsley:  What is the most important point you hope is communicated in this event? What do you hope the audience walks away with after the event?

Matt Kibbe: "The audience will walk away from this live event with an action plan and specific steps that they can take in partnership with others around the country to stop common core."

Kelly Horsley: What can moms and dads do to make sure and keep Common Core out of their schools?

Matt Kibbe: "Stay aware! Constantly communicate with your local officials, read your childs' homework and tests, look at their textbooks. The We Will Not Conform event will provide an action plan for parents to do just this."

Kelly Horsley: How many states and or districts have adopted or implemented Common Core?

Matt Kibbe: "Officially 45 states, DC, four territories, and all Department of Defense Schools. However, we see the influence of Common Core nationwide due to changes to the SAT/ACT/AP programs."

Kelly Horsley: Common Core has been in the news a lot lately as has CSCOPE, which is here in Texas. Briefly for our readers, can you explain the difference?

Matt Kibbe: "Common Core is a national set of standards for which curriculum and testing are based. CSCOPE is a Texas specific curriculum program based on Texas standard with outside influence from common core and other programs. CSCOPE has come under scrutiny in Texas as common core has in other states. The programs are linked because of the influence of companies like Pearson."

Kelly Horsley: Tell us about the event, its release date, and where folks can go and see it and how to get tickets.

Matt Kibbe: "July 22nd, it's a live event so it's released at that point, they can go to wewillnotconform.com for more info and tickets. It will be replayed on July 29th."

You heard it here, folks.  If  you want to get Common Core out of your schools and lives, then get online and go the website listed above and secure tickets to watch this live event.  A plan of action is always a good thing.  Common Core, however, is rotten to the core.