If you
have been in homeschooling for long, you have no doubt heard of the Home School
Legal Defense Association. This
fantastic organization came into being to protect our freedom to educate our
children in the way we as parents deem fit.
They have worked over the last many years to keep our freedoms, and to
restore them, when necessary.
One of
the men who have worked so tirelessly in this endeavor is Chris Klicka. He has a VERY short bio on HSLDA’s website
that reads, in part:
“Since
1985, Chris has intervened on behalf of thousands of homeschool families across
the country who have been threatened by prosecutors, social workers, and truant
officers. He has represented many homeschooling families in court and testified
before numerous state legislatures and Congress. He currently directs a staff
of 10 lawyers and legal assistants and together they annually handle 10,000
legal conflicts/issues and monitor and lobby the 50 state legislatures.”
For those
of us who have been around for little while, we know this isn’t even scratching
the surface of all Mr. Klicka and HSDLA has done for us! Remember HR6?
Remember CA district court ruling in Feb of 2008? Remember when people would voice the question
to us – “Is homeschooling even legal?”
It was Mr. Klicka and the others at HSLDA that helped us and fought off
the threats to our freedom to homeschool.
We can never repay the debt we owe.
Well, I
just found out a couple of years ago, that Mr. Klicka suffers from MS. He has been dealing with this disease for
years. I never knew! Well, it appears that Mr. Klicka’s fight
against this disease is coming to a close.
Last week, he fell ill while in CO at a leadership meeting. They have placed him in hospice care, and do
not expect him to travel home to VA before his death.
We do not
grieve as those without hope, but we do grieve.
I’ve never met him, but I owe so much to him! I have never shed so many tears for the
impending loss of someone I’ve never met.
His crown will weigh a ton!
Thank you
is not enough for all he’s done, but it’s all I have to offer. I’ll miss him deeply, and so will the
homeschooling movement, whether we all know it, or not.
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