Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) Celebrates 40-Year Anniversary

Purcellville, VA, March 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary as the country’s largest advocacy group for homeschooling. When HSLDA was founded in 1983 by attorneys and homeschool dads, Michael Farris and J. Michael Smith, the option of homeschooling was legal only in a handful of states. Since then, HSLDA has assisted hundreds of thousands of homeschooling families and has been a leading force in making homeschooling legal across the United States.

Today, HSLDA is a go-to resource for families on every step along their homeschool journey—from pre-K through high school and college/career prep—whether they need legal advice, personalized educational support, or connection with vibrant communities for parents and children. HSLDA has helped millions of families make homeschooling possible for their kids. 

In 2023, there are an estimated 4–5 million homeschooled children in the US enjoying the freedoms that HSLDA, state homeschool groups, and other homeschool advocates have fought to protect. According to the US Census Bureau, from February 2020 to Fall 2022, homeschooling more than doubled in the Black community, rising from 3.3% to 7.7% and rose in the Hispanic community from 6.2% to 7.6%. Families across the country have learned that homeschooling unleashes their child’s potential in ways public school could not.

“Today, homeschooling is a robust, firmly established educational option, offering children and their families unlimited learning opportunities and support through strong, vibrant communities,” said HSLDA president Jim Mason. “Instead of parents wondering ‘Is my child being left behind—or held back in their classroom?’ homeschooling allows parents to ask ‘How can I help you learn and grow best today?’ It’s a wonderful way to equip kids with confidence and a love of learning in America today.”  

Since 1983, HSLDA’s legal team has worked closely with state homeschool organizations to remove unnecessary legal barriers to homeschooling in all 50 states and has defended tens of thousands of homeschooling families from government overreach.

HSLDA has also played a key role in precedent-setting cases that protect families’ right to homeschool and ensure that officials follow existing laws. A few recent cases include In re Jonathan L. (2008, California), Sosebee v. Franklin County School Bd (2019, Virginia Supreme Court), and a lawsuit against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on behalf of Tanya Acevedo (2019, NYC). The Acevedo lawsuit resulted in New York City’s Central Office of Homeschooling consenting to a court-supervised two-year cleanup of its undermanned, antiquated, and chronically behind paperwork process—a process that affected thousands of homeschoolers and had created legal problems for hundreds.

In 2000, HSLDA introduced its first grants for homeschool families. Today, generous donors help HSLDA provide Compassion Curriculum Grants and Disaster Relief Grants for families facing financial difficulties—whether they are dealing with loss of employment, serious illness, death in the family, or natural disaster, or need assistance with adaptive curriculum or therapies for teaching a child with special needs. 

Over the past 20+ years, HSLDA has given thousands of grants to families and homeschool groups, working alongside parents, grandparents, and leaders at the local, state, and national levels to make homeschooling possible in their communities.

When the pandemic shut down the nation’s education system in 2020, HSLDA responded to the unprecedented demand for support from hundreds of thousands of suddenly homeschooling families. In addition to providing free encouraging getting-started content to families from HSLDA’s veteran homeschool consultants, the organization also launched a free webinar series that has brought live expert discussions and support on a myriad of homeschooling topics every two weeks for the past two years. 

About HSLDA

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is America’s largest and oldest national homeschool advocacy group. Founded in 1983 with the mission to make homeschooling possible for all families, the organization has helped empower millions of homeschooling parents and students. As a membership organization for families homeschooling their children, HSLDA provides a myriad of resources from educational consultants to personalized legal advice through every step of their homeschool journey. Learn more about HSLDA at https://hslda.org/ 

• Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) Celebrates 40-Year Anniversary