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Get Started HERE! History of Homeschooling in Michigan Donate Happy Spring! There's a LOT going on in April... and then the INCH Conference is coming up in May... May 9-11 is only 1 month away!!!! If you're not yet registered, there's no better time. Read all about it and register here: INCH 2024: 40TH ANNUAL MICHIGAN HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE As the legislature is returning this week from a two week spring break, we wanted to draw your attention to Senate Bill 285 which would require mandatory kindergarten for every 5 year old in Michigan... Why does this matter to homeschoolers? NOTE: This bill has already passed out of the Senate Education Committee and is ready for a vote on the Senate floor-- which we've been told could happen this week! Please contact your senator and ask them to oppose this bill. While you are at it, please remind them that you would also like them to oppose any homeschool regulation bills that may be presented in the future. S.B. 285 would change Michigan’s compulsory attendance law (currently from ages 6-16) and would require ALL 5-year-olds in Michigan to have formal academic instruction (either in school or at home). If you choose the homeschool option, you would be required by law to begin teaching the required 9 academic subjects in an organized educational manner to your child as soon as they turn 5. And we at MiCHN believe this choice of when to begin formal instruction should be made by parents, not the State. HSLDA has also weighed in on this issue HERE. Also important to note: even if you homeschool, you will be required to help pay the estimated $43.3 million dollars of additional annual tax this will cost for new students entering the public school system because of this law. Find your Senator HERE. MiCHN responds to this issue HERE. Track the bill HERE. Please continue to pray and respectfully reach out to your legislators via emails, calls, or letters. Remember, the Michigan Senate has been on break, but returns today: April 9! We encourage you to contact them right away, as they may bring this bill up for a vote as soon as they are back in session. Homeschool Registration Bill Although no actual bill has been submitted yet, we know multiple drafts have been written, and MiCHN continues to closely monitor proposed legislation to regulate homeschooling in Michigan by requiring registration for all homeschool families. (This would also affect private schools and Christian education programs.) Stay informed on the latest updates, and prepare to defend your right to freely educate your children, by attending one of these upcoming Homeschool Freedom Forums, being held around the state: Mon, April 15th – Charlotte/Eaton County – CLICK for Facebook event Flyer HERE Tues, April 16th – Taylor/Wayne County – CLICK for Facebook event Flyer HERE Mon, April 22nd – Flushing/Genesee County – CLICK for Facebook event Flyer HERE You'll hear from several leaders in the Michigan homeschool movement, including author and speaker Israel Wayne from MICHN, State Rep. Jaime Green, CTV's Eileen McNeil or James Muffett, Salt & Light Global's Katherine Bussard, and more! In case you are interested to know more about what happens at our Homeschool Freedom Forums held around the state, this recording was made at our Grand Rapids event last month, featuring Rep. Jaime Greene (House Education Committee Vice-Chair.) You may watch the recording HERE. Find an Education Freedom Forum Near You: Monday: April 15th at 6:30 PM - Eaton County Real Life Church 1848 S. Cochran Ave. Charlotte, MI 48813 Tuesday, April 16th at 6:30 PM - Wayne County Metro City Church-Taylor Campus 21080 Penn St. Taylor, MI 48180 Monday, April 22nd at 10 AM - Genesee County Trinity Baptist Church 4222 Elms Rd, Flushing, MI 48433 Monday, April 22nd at 1 PM Bay City/Midland area - Location TBD Watch for further details Monday, April 22nd at 7 PM Alpena area- Location TBD Watch for further details AND DON'T MISS THIS ONE: THURSDAY, MAY 9th, 9 AM - Noon The Homeschool Freedom Summit @ the 2024 INCH Conference At Mount Hope Church in Lansing - 202 Creyts Rd (STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS -- PLAN NOW TO ATTEND!) Coming up this Saturday, April 13, a Call to Prayer at the Capitol: What: Join thousands of people across the nation on the same day to stand and fast and pray for the children, and for America to be turned back to God! When: Saturday, April 13th, 1:00-3:00pm Where: Michigan State Capitol Building Who: Citizens passionate about protecting family values in Michigan We will STAND & PRAY with families at every state capitol across the nation on April 13th. If this is America's last stand, WE MUST STAND. One day. One nation. 50 states. The attack on the children in our country has gone too far. We have had enough. It's time to take a stand in prayer, fasting, and using our voices! Join us with your families for a historic day on April 13, 2024, as we gather to PRAY, take communion, and STAND for truth in every state capital and Washington, D.C.! DETAILS & REGISTRATION HERE Also happening this Saturday, April 13, in Holland, Political Leadership Academy for anyone wondering what you can do to make a difference in the political arena: This is ideal for anyone considering running for office, for campaign volunteers, interns, ALL CANDIDATES and potential candidates, current elected officials, clergy, citizens hungry for wisdom about how our political world works and how to be more effective in it! LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE On Wednesday, April 24, at Spring Arbor University, consider attending this special event:Coach Joe Kennedy: He Stood for Christ by Taking a Knee We are bringing Coach Kennedy, the coach who prayed after every game. His story truly is a Daniel in the lion's den type of story. He was fired, and his legal case went all the way to the Supreme Court. His strength of conviction and character is an inspiration! William Wagner will be explaining the important constitutional significance of the Supreme Court's decision. The event is free. Feel free to invite others who you think would be interested! We would appreciate RSVPs by April 17: The web address to RSVP is arbor.edu/kennedy April 24, 2024 at Spring Arbor University's McDonald Athletic Center 12:30pm - Coaches and Athletes 5:30pm - Students and Community Members From the time he began coaching high school football in 2008, Coach Joe Kennedy made a covenant with God to take a knee in prayer on the field after every game. In 2015, this decision cost him his job. The Coach challenged the decision and was thrust in the spotlight. His case is one of the most important religious liberty cases in recent history. After a seven-year legal battle, the Supreme Court decided the case in his favor on June 27, 2022. Kennedy’s story of faith, courage, and determination captured the attention of the nation. Come, hear his story. Our freedoms are being threatened on many sides... our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to direct the upbringing, education, and care of our own children. Please be in prayer, take action by reaching out to your elected officials, and plan to join other homeschoolers from around the state as we talk about these issues at our upcoming Homeschool Freedom Forums, as well as at the INCH Conference on May 9th-11th! May the Lord bless and keep you, The MiCHN Legislative Team

Happy New Year! We survived 2023 without any changes to our homeschooling freedom. We remain vigilant to have the same result in 2024. While people think they are in control of our ways, it is God Who rules the day. Proverbs 16.9 reminds us of this truth. Nevertheless, we must pray, and we must work to ensure our legislators know our desire to remain free to lead our children in the way they should go as we determine, by God’s grace, what is best for them since we love them most and have the greatest interest in their spiritual, emotional, educational and physical development. You can help us in this work by taking your children to see your local legislators when they have open meetings, usually at coffee shops, to share with them your love for your children and the freedom you cherish to educate them your way. We need people to make these visits in every district but, even more importantly, in those districts where the legislators are of the current majority in our state government. They have total control over our freedom, except God’s influence and His work through you with us to continue praying and working for the freedom to homeschool our children in our state without government intrusion or oversight. I pray you will join us in this battle and that God will continue His favor upon us. Blessings and welcome to the New Year. Mike Winter president, MiCHN THERE IS STILL TIME!!! From Friday evening to Saturday at noon, we will worship together and then hear the amazing Ginny Yurich! She will be encouraging us in our Homeschooling journey all while making us laugh a lot!! Register HERE Homeschoolers and Public School Sports here has been a recent push from some members of the homeschooling community to pressure the state legislature to force equal access for homeschoolers to play sports in public schools. Some families feel they pay taxes and should get some return from the public schools (even if they don’t want their child to attend there full-time). I would encourage you to consider some of the reasons homeschooling parents may not actually want to push for their child to play on a public school team, and even more importantly, why involving the legislature is ill-advised. 1. When public school / homeschool partnerships were introduced in Michigan, allowing homeschoolers to have their co-op classes paid for by the local public school system, it ended up killing the majority of existing homeschool support groups and privately funded co-ops in our state. The huge network of homeschool groups that offered multiple levels of support and activities died because it’s hard to compete with “free.” It ended up giving us far less options and choices than before. I think we can safely assume the same thing will happen to our existing homeschool sports leagues here in MI if the public school becomes our go-to for sports as well as co-op classes. 2. In some states, in order to play public school sports, you need to register as a “part-time public school student,” which provides state funding for the local public school. Over time, this would increase the tax burden on citizens in the state as public school enrollment increases. (Perhaps this concern could be addressed in the legislative process by simply not allowing this when an equal access bill is drafted, but it would be a potential concern.) I do not want to increase the reach and power of the public school system by providing it with increased funding that cause our taxes to go even higher. 3. Is the social environment of the public school system something we really want our students to be involved in? Do you as a parent want your child hearing all the locker room talk and being in an environment where filthy and sexually charged language is rampant? While there is no guarantee this could never happen with a homeschool sports team, the likelihood is far less. For girls, they would need to be braced for the fact that they could be forced to play on teams with biological males. Such is the state of the public school system today. 4. The more your child is engaged in the activities of the public school, it becomes his social culture. His teammates become his friends. He is going to be far more eager to attend public school as a full-time student once he is on a team and his friends are pressuring him to go to the school. If you have decided that homeschooling is best for him, do you really want to invite a battle of him wanting to go in a different direction? 5. The public school wants to attract homeschoolers back to their system (because each student in Michigan represents $14,624 (in 2023) and they use bait like free co-op classes and sports to do so (as they often get at least partial funding for homeschooled student who participate in public school classes or activities). Should the government really be our go-to for all of our needs in life? Why can’t we create our own systems and programs without always looking to the government to be our savior and provider? If fact, we can! And we have! We have created an entirely privately-funded system of sports in Michigan and we can continue to expand it. Our privately-funded programs can remain unregulated by government control and political correctness. 6. We have seen in other states that allow equal access for sports scenarios where the entire homeschooling movement gets bad publicity because of homeschoolers being on sports teams. There is always that public school dad who thinks his kid is going to be the next NFL superstar, and his son was bumped off the team by some homeschooler “who thinks he is too good to go to public school.” The accusation is that homeschoolers are elitist, and they don’t want to be part of the normal social life of the public school, but they want to cherry-pick the perks and get benefits without really putting in the work and living the same lifestyle as everyone else. So, having homeschoolers on a public school team can sometimes sour people’s attitudes towards all homeschoolers because of the perceived injustices committed by a few. 7. In Michigan, we are currently in a legislative environment where politicians who support homeschooling are in the minority, so it can be unwise to introduce ANY homeschool legislation at this time because it waves a red flag about our presence to those would like to regulate us. In many situations, out of sight out of mind is best when the political situation is hostile to homeschooling. 8. The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is “a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools that enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.” I have seen petitions floating around on social media asking for the legislature to regulate the MHSAA and force them to allow homeschoolers to play on public school teams. For the government to begin dictating policy to a non-profit is a bad precedent on many levels. We want private schools and homeschools to be able to play against each other’s teams without the government dictating policy about how that happens. As Deanna Ervin, a Michigan homeschool group leader of F.A.I.T.H. in Lapeer, said in a social media post: “(W)e began homeschool sports in our area 19 years ago because we wanted these opportunities for our homeschool children, without the inclusion of the other aspects of public-school indoctrination. Homeschool sports have a fantastic momentum, and the types of sports are continually growing. Scouting at homeschool tournaments has become very real and homeschool athletes are getting the recognition they deserve and even earning scholarships in some cases.” Summary I believe we should continue to support and expand the wonderful homeschooling sports programs in Michigan that are parent-led and parent-directed. This gives us the ultimate freedom to enjoy sports in an environment that encourages our values and does not increase the control and dominance of the government school system as the only option within our state. If homeschoolers can play public school sports, it is almost certain that homeschool teams will disappear as most homeschoolers flock back to the public school teams, which leaves us with less “school choice” than we started with! Do we really want an environment where our only choice is for our kids to play sports on a public school team? As it currently stands, we can begin our games with prayer, we can invite our own sponsors and choose our own schedule. We have freedom and flexibility as homeschoolers in our own leagues because we aren’t regulated by the state. It is for these reasons, as well as others, that we need to be very careful about assuming that equal access for homeschoolers into the public school system will be for the ultimate good and benefit of the broader homeschooling community. Israel Wayne is a homeschooled graduate and homeschooling father of 11 who lives near Kalamazoo, MI. Israel is an author and conference speaker and director of www.FamilyRenewal.org. These are quite uncertain times. Right now, MICHN would advise you to make sure your account is up to date and accurate with Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Be sure to visit their website, and if you have not done so already, BECOME A MEMBER today. What's happening at MICHN