Advocacy is for everyone. Any concerned parent can become an advocate for homeschooling freedoms. And so can you. This series of five articles will walk you through the steps you can take to become an effective advocate for homeschooling in your community.

Many homeschoolers are confronted with negativity. Heated debates on public education, religion and politics can be incited. Facing arguments on socialization, teacher qualifications and homework are not uncommon. There will always be naysayers. You simply cannot please everyone all the time, especially when you make important family decisions. It is best to convey your decision with confidence and let the act of homeschooling tell the rest of the tale.

With podcasts you have a chance to reach a new component of the homeschool audience that you might not reach via newsletters, blog posts, or social media. This video details three advantages to marketing through podcasts.

Matching, out-of-date sweatsuits. The ability to recite lines from the Iliad in response to your peers’ discussion of a television show. Parroting your parents’ values. If you’ve paid attention to mainstream depictions of homeschooled children, these images are likely familiar. Homeschooled kids get a bad rap and are too frequently associated with social awkwardness due to a perceived lack of socialization with their peer group. However, with the dawn of social media, more homeschooled students—both those who are being schooled by more “traditional” methods and those who are students are virtual cyber charter schools—are able to better connect with their peers and other members of the homeschooling community.

It’s not enough to plan a meeting to talk about homeschooling with lawmakers, policymakers, bureaucrats, or the media. You have to have something to say when you get to the meeting. Successful homeschooling advocates get around this problem with a secret weapon: talking points.

The public schools are beyond repair. If it is not practical to replace the current system, then at least let those alone who wish to homeschool. Hassle them not. Instead, encourage them and help them. Parents who homeschool their children have three basic complaints against public schools: the lack of academic rigor, the number of maladjusted graduates, and the anti-religious atmosphere. Homeschool advocates claim that homeschooling overcomes these problems. They argue that no matter whether the educational philosophy one holds is that schooling prepares for life or schooling is life, the homeschooled do better. Proponents also claim that private schools are nearly always similar to public schools, so the fundamental criticisms of public schools apply to private schools also, although to a lesser degree.

Homeschoolers are commonly heavy users of their local libraries. Libraries can become educational hubs for homeschoolers by providing programming, information, and events. Homeschoolers can help libraries by advocating for libraries and urging lawmakers to support these vital institutions in their communities.

Just as educational philosophies and approaches can vary significantly among homeschooling families, so, too can our degree of comfort with and interest in taking the role of a “homeschool advocate.” While some homeschooling parents feel driven to right wrongs in the world or to push for change for the better, others prefer to avoid conflict if at all possible, and many of us fall somewhere in between, willing to take on important issues that hit close to home, if only we knew how to go about it effectively. Nearly all of us, however, want to be able to effectively respond if we feel our homeschooling freedoms are being abridged or threatened in some way. VaHomeschoolers has prepared some resources to help you advocate for yourself and the homeschooling community. Even if you never find yourself in an advocacy situation, this information can help to empower you to be a more confident homeschooler.

A transcript for an appearance by Celeste Land on the Kojo Nnamdi Show where she discussed the homeschooling movement. Celeste is VaHomeschoolers' Director of Government Affairs. The program touched on the many and varied reasons why families choose homeschooling, from concerns with the school environment to a desire for a tailored educational approach or a wish to keep the family at the center of a child’s upbringing. The show also addressed a common stereotype of homeschoolers by pointing out that while many families that choose home education consider their faith to be a very important part of their lives, homeschooling families come from diverse religious backgrounds, and religious homeschoolers do not necessarily choose homeschooling for religious reasons. A great example of how to interact with the media for a positive discussion about home education. Also available via podcast at Homeschooling Goes Mainstream.

Homeschoolers are actually not the easiest marketing targets in general. You might think that we are such a specific subset of the population that we basically have a marketing bullseye on our foreheads, but the truth is that people homeschool their children for such a wide variety of reasons that figuring out where we are coming from can be a full-time job in itself. The one thing homeschoolers DO have in common is their belief that by homeschooling, they are providing a customized education for their child.

The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers (VaHomeschoolers) has lobbied on behalf of Virginia’s diverse homeschooling community for over a decade.

How homeschoolers interact with social media. Myths about using social media for marketing to the homeschool audience. Social media preferences for the homeschool market.

Locate the homeschooling policies and regulations for your local school district. Read the policies carefully to learn about how your school district handles homeschooling issues. Make copies of the policies and keep them in a safe place for future reference. Share what you’ve learned withyour family and friends.

This free e-book download contains Mary Griffith's work addressing issues concerning the image of homeschoolers as presented by individual homeschoolers and homeschool organizations. It is written for support group leaders and activists in the homeschooling movement who want solid information on dealing with the public. Topics include: Getting Started, Looking Professional, Announcing Yourself, Being Interviewed (with tips for talking with the media, print interviews, broadcast interviews, and talk radio), Putting Your Message Out, and Events & Community. This book was originally published in 1996.

It may not sound quite as exciting or glamorous as marching in the streets, calling your congressman, or making speeches. But the single most important and most empowering thing any homeschooling parent can do is to become familiar with Virginia’s homeschooling laws.

Homeschooling laws and policies don’t come out of thin air. They are created by well-intentioned men and women who may not know much about homeschooling. Laws and policies can be created, eliminated, or improved if we work with these men and women to fix them. Effective advocates know who these men and women are, know where to find them, and know how they can help with homeschooling problems.

Positive action can be taken by homeschoolers by writing a letter or email to explain your concerns and providing accurate information about homeschooling. Letters or emails are especially appropriate in response to a form letter, a survey, an email, or a newspaper article or editorial. Letters and emails are also an effective way to express your views to lawmakers or policymakers on a particular homeschooling issue.