The only sure way to protect your children from vaccine mandates is to withdraw them from public school and choose to homeschool.
LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the nation with over 600,000 students, is the first school district to mandate that on-campus students be vaccinated. The rule will be voted upon this afternoon and is expected to pass.
The New York Times, via Principal News, today announced, “Los Angeles USD is poised to become the first major school district in the United States to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person. Its Board of Education will meet today to vote on a measure requiring students to have their first vaccine dose by November 21st and their second by December 19th, so as to begin the next semester fully inoculated. Students participating in in-person extracurricular activities will need both shots by the end of October.”
When the FDA gave the Pfizer vaccine full approval on August 23rd, we knew more mandates would follow.
As WebMD put it, “… the approval puts the vaccines on firmer legal footing and is expected to spur a raft of new vaccination requirements by employers, schools, and universities.” However, please recall that the Pfizer vaccine has only been fully and officially approved for individuals age 16 and up. And yet, LAUSD will require it for students as young as 12 years-old.
LAUSD is just the first public school district to implement the mandate. Surely, more will quickly follow.
Today, President Biden is expected to announce the Federal government's demand that all 2.1 Federal workers and contractors be vaccinated with no option for regular testing.
If your family chooses not to vaccinate for any number of reasons, restrictions on your lifestyle are becoming greater every day, a situation that pundits and officials have been supporting for quite some time.
CNN medical contributor Dr. Leana Wen suggested back in July that life needs to be "hard" for Americans who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine, and individuals who refuse to get shots should perhaps face weekly testing. "But at some point these mandates, by workplaces, by schools, I think it will be important to say, ‘Hey, you can opt out, but if you want to opt out, you have to sign these forms, you have to get twice weekly testing,’" Wen said. "Basically, we need to make getting vaccinated the easy choice. It needs to be hard for people to remain unvaccinated," Wen, the former Planned Parenthood president, said.
Well, for parents and workers in California, it certainly is getting harder. Even twice weekly testing will not be accepted. And what about those who have already had and recovered from Covid and test positive for antibodies? They will still be required to vax.
But parents have options. At this moment, private schools are not required to have all their students vaccinated for Covid19. This may change because in recent years California eliminated the health and religious exemptions offered to public or private school students who said "no' to mandated childhood vaccines. Covid19 could soon be included on that list. But for now, your family may find a private school that doesn’t require the vaccination.
The only sure way to protect your children from vaccine mandates is to withdraw from public school and choose to homeschool. Homeschools are exempt from immunization requirements, and likely will continue to be exempt from Covid19 vaccinations as well.
California offers three routes to legally homeschool within the state.
1. Create your own private school by filing an R-4 Private School Affidavit with the CDE, following the rules set forth by the CDE for attendance, record-keeping, and curriculum.
2. Join a private school independent study program, or “satellite” program (PSP). The private school files the Private School Affidavit, so you do not have to. PSPs tend to offer somewhat standard services including recordkeeping, requesting records from your previous school, providing streamlined forms and procedures, transcripts, and diplomas. These services are offered for minimal tuition and fees; additional services may be provided at an extra charge.
3. Hire a credentialed teacher to work with your children as their tutor. Unfortunately, Socrates and Aristotle are no longer available.
If you thought that joining a charter school or public school independent study program would be an alternative, those options will require vaccinations, state testing, regular checking in with work samples, and the standard public school curriculum. If your child's school continues to offer online-only instruction, well, we have seen how well that works out. Hint: it doesn't.
I am hopeful that many parents will seize this opportunity to experience the beauty and benefits of true independent homeschooling. Independent homeschooling allows you to decide what curriculum your children will use to best suit each student’s learning. The resources available to homeschoolers today are among the very best academically and creatively, and we regularly see homeschoolers achieving at levels that far surpass their public school peers. Independent homeschool is NOT just school at home. It is an opportunity to open the doors to exploration, imagination, and the joy of lifelong learning.
Parents, this is your blessing, rather than your burden. Pulling your students from public schools will not only benefit your children academically, morally, emotionally, and socially (since you get to choose with whom they socialize), but it will also allow your family time to learn together, focus on your own family's values, and for you as parents to really know what your kids are learning.
Don't be afraid to join the homeschooling movement. We'd love to welcome your family into ours!
Besides...what are you missing?
Marguerite Gaspar is the Director of the Talega Preparatory Academy, a California Private School offering Satellite independent study programs to families seeking the utmost in educational freedom. Marguerite has homeschooled her three children, taught middle school science and math for over thirty years in California public schools, and has supported homeschooling families throughout the state since 2002. She is committed to helping students and families homeschool, their way.