CHO Group Policies

 

By joining our group, members agree to abide by the following policies.
 

We see home education as a lifestyle, not only as a means by which to provide formal academic instruction to our children. As such, members may post about a wide variety of topics related to parenting/family life in a homeschool setting (i.e., concerning the spiritual, physical, emotional, and social/relational needs of their home-educated children as well as the academic/intellectual).

That said, conversation in CHO should remain related to the education, growth, and development of members' homeschooled children, not generalized discussion about social/political topics that lack a clear, direct connection to home education and not about personal matters unrelated to being a home-educating parent. Similarly, please keep the focus of group discussion on home-based learning rather than its alternatives (i.e., don't post about an issue within an institutional school unless it has a clear, direct connection to homeschooling). 

Members may not post about matters pertaining to non-home-educated children - either their own or children of friends or relatives. We are a support group for private, independent home educators - i.e., here to help fellow home-educating parents with home education-related issues. Other forums exist to provide help for children who are not privately home-educated. Of course, members may post about babies, toddlers, and "preschool"-aged children (whom they plan to homeschool) and adult children who were homeschooled (i.e., homeschool graduates now in college or the work world).

Additionally, please do not post questions for non-member friends (or relatives) who homeschool because, quite honestly, asking for advice on behalf of another (without his/her knowledge) is a form of gossip. If a friend/relative has a question with which CHO members might help, invite him/her to join the group and participate with us. Alternately, get permission to ask in the person's stead and be sure to explicitly state within the post that permission has been granted. Posts lacking such acknowledgement will be deleted without comment. 

We value individual liberty and parental rights (i.e., the right of each child’s parents to choose what they deem to be an appropriate educational path for their own child). However, CHO specifically promotes and advocates only for private, independent home-based education among its members. Thus, members may not advocate in favor of any of the various forms of public/government or private institutional schooling, or any sort of "partnership" or involvement with K-12 public schools (including but not limited to participation in sports and extracurriculars).

We know that taking government money always results in a loss of independence and academic freedom (i.e., government shekels = government shackles), so members may not advocate for the use of any government-sponsored money (i.e., via vouchers, partnerships, stipends, ESAs, etc.) for home education. 

We do not promote one style or method of private, independent home education over others, and we ask that members respect other members' choices for their own children. However, we will gently encourage all members to consider freeing themselves and their children from the methods used within institutional (factory-style) schools in favor of what the Bible says about children (i.e., that each one is a unique creation with particular, individual gifts, talents, and abilities) and the learning process (i.e., that every moment of a child's life – with or without the aid of formal curriculum - is an opportunity for holistic learning and discipleship).

By definition, this group opposes the Common Core (CCS) - and its affiliated initiatives, such as the NGSS, C3, etc. - so we assume that all who choose to join are interested in learning about and using curriculum and resources that are wholly independent of it. Thus, members may only recommend non-CCS resources (as delineated on The Homeschool Resource Roadmap), and admins will remove comments promoting materials connected to the CCS in any way. If a member starts a post asking about a resource that is connected to the CCS, the admins will assume the original poster is not aware of its CCS position and will point that out for the benefit of all members. 

CHO members must be familiar with The Homeschool Resource Roadmap and should plan to refer often to relevant Roadmap pages when helping other group members with curriculum/resource suggestions.

Members may post prayer requests in the Prayer Request Forum category, and - generally speaking - we allow all requests. However, we ask that members try to limit requests to that which is related to their immediate families and other relevant parenting/family/homeschool-related issues. 

Members should use our Classifieds section for all buy/sell posts. Be sure to follow the posting directions given on that page.

We realize that some of the group's members are providers of curriculum and other educational and parenting-oriented resources in addition to being home educators. We also understand that some have ties to particular companies or products through affiliate programs, that some hope to launch their own business endeavors as time allows, that some are running for political office (or working for those who are), and that others have their own homeschool related blogs. Nonetheless, we are not a marketing-oriented group, so we must take steps to insure that our Forum does not become a commercial marketplace for competing products or a venue by which some may attempt to gain sales, votes, affiliate commissions, or blog "followers." Thus, members must abide by the following advertising and marketing policies:

1. NO fundraisers of any sort are allowed;
2. Business owners may add their enterprises to our Business Directory as per the guidelines described there;
3. Bloggers may add their blog information to our CHO Bloggers list;
4. Members with no vested interest in a specific resource or blog/website, etc. - either personal or professional - are free to post in the Forum about it and mention it in the course of normal discussions. Links may be included as well;
5. However, vendors, providers (or their employees), entrepreneurs, affiliates, political candidates (or those who work or volunteer for them), and blog authors may not initiate new Forum posts about their products, websites, etc., because such posts may too easily be construed as attempts at advertising, marketing, or self-promotion. They may discuss their products and services as relevant only in on-going discussions initiated by others and only as long as full disclosure is made within those comments;
6. Entrepreneurial members may not use CHO for “market research” - i.e., as a means of surveying homeschoolers for product development ideas;
7. Vendors and providers of educational content whose resource materials are not yet included on The Homeschool Resource Roadmap must contact our lead admin prior to referencing said materials in any way. All such products and materials must be listed on The Roadmap before they can be introduced to group members.

Our members hail from a wide variety of Christian denominational backgrounds (i.e., many Protestant denominations, Catholic, Messianic, Orthodox), and - with specific admin approval - some may espouse an other-than-Christian faith perspective (i.e., Jewish, Latter Day Saint). But CHO is not a theology group, so members must respect others' denominational distinctives. When relevant (i.e., as pertaining to a child's religious education), members may discuss particular denominational tenets, but such discussions may not be used to proselytize for or against the precepts a member parent desires to teach his/her own children. 

When in doubt, please ask first. Many topics that members seek to address are probably appropriate for the group - remembering that our focus is on parenting/family life in a homeschool setting. However, if a member has any doubt about whether or not a post fits our parameters, s/he should send a message to an admin before posting. We would rather not see posts that start with, “If this is not okay, please delete.”

CHO is meant to be an oasis – a place for conservative/traditianal Christian home-educating parents to refresh and refuel. Thus, we expect that all members will abide by The Golden Rule (i.e., everyone agreeing to treat others as they themselves would like to be treated). We further expect that those with differing views on various topics will respectfully agree to disagree while continuing to interact with one another as mature individuals. And, realizing that written words alone (without the benefit of facial expression and tone of voice) can result in unintended miscommunication, we expect that members will extend grace to one another, be slow to anger, and seek gentle clarification as needed. Differences of opinion are inevitable; fair-minded discussion is always welcome. However, blatant rudeness or disrespect for others – including any use of profanity – is simply not allowed.

The admins will approach a member's repeated violation of our policies using the principles outlined in Matthew 18, aiming in the process to facilitate repentance and to retain the member's relationship with our community. If, however, the member continues to violate policy, s/he will be removed from the group. In such a case, the member will forfeit his/her annual registration fee.

Similarly, if a member chooses to voluntarily leave the group before his/her one-year membership term expires, s/he will forfeit his/her the balance of his/her annual registration fee.