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Homeschool Advocacy Day
Join homeschool families from around Kentucky on February 19 at our state capitol in Frankfort for Homeschool Advocacy Day
Why Attend Homeschool Advocacy Day?
Our elected officials in the Kentucky House and Senate consider and pass bills that affect all facets of our lives, including homeschooling. It is important that legislators are familiar with homeschool families and understand the importance of protecting homeschool freedom. Also, there is no better civics lesson for your students than to participate directly in the process. Homeschool Advocacy Day will be more than just a field trip. It is an opportunity for home educators and students to learn while actively participating in the legislative process.
Can’t Make it on February 19?
If you are unable to attend on February 19, you may wish to contact Brother Lee Watts at lee.watts.kentucky@gmail.com. Brother Watts has offered to coordinate with those who would like to bring a group on another day.
What to Expect
When you register, we will use the info you provide to look up your state senator and your state representative. Volunteers will contact legislator offices to request meetings with your legislators. If there are multiple members who live in the same district and have the same legislators, we will group you together for meetings. All meetings are subject to the availability and schedules of the legislators. Closer to the event, organizers will send out an e-mail to all registrants with a link to view the scheduled meeting times.
All meetings will take place in the Capitol Annex Building. Be prepared with your ID when you enter. The guest entrance is at the center set of doors facing the Capitol building.
We recommend that you should plan to be in the parking lot at least ONE HOUR before your scheduled meeting time.
Closer to the date of the event, we will notify participants of our designated gathering location inside the Annex building. At that location you will be able to pick up materials for your meetings. Feel free to gather in the cafeteria (basement) between meetings.
Do I Need to Be There the Whole Time?
No, you do not need to be present the entire time from 8:00am until 2:00pm. Once we have meeting times scheduled, you can plan to arrive about an hour prior to your first meeting and leave after your final meeting. You are also welcome to stay the entire time and attend additional meetings or help out in other ways.
Students!
Children of all ages are welcome to attend meetings! You know your children best, and you know whether or not they will do well in meetings. Infants and school-age children usually do great. Toddlers and preschoolers are not usually quite so impressed with meetings.
What to Wear
There is no dress code for Homeschool Advocacy Day, but we do have suggestions. Dress clothes are appropriate, such as business attire or business casual, “church clothes,” or something you might wear to a fancy dinner or a job interview. That being said, jeans and a t-shirt are just fine, too. What you wear is far less important than simply showing up.
What to Expect in Legislator Meetings
Most meetings with legislators will last 10-20 minutes. Your job is to let your legislator know that you live in their district and that your family homeschools. You can mention more specifically where you live and any community ties you might have (where you go to church, where you work, etc), and mention if you have any personal connections to the legislator. Students are encouraged to think of questions to ask legislators.
There are some bills filed that relate to homeschooling, which you may wish to discuss. Homeschool Advocacy Day organizers will help to prepare you with information on specific bills. If there are any questions to which no one knows the answer, just say that you don’t know, but that someone will get the answer and get back to them.
Stay on Topic
While you are speaking with legislators during Homeschool Advocacy Day, please focus on homeschool topics. At any given time there are always many subject matters being considered by the General Assembly, and you may have strong feelings about many of those other topics. However, we ask that you do not discuss your views on other topics while in legislator meetings arranged for Homeschool Advocacy Day.
Resources
Unfortunately, our beautiful state capitol building is currently closed for long-term renovations. But, there are many other opportunities that you may wish to explore during your visit to Frankfort. Here are just a few links with some ideas and resources.