Yesterday I had an interesting encounter...with the police! Let me give you a little background first.
Every morning, I allow my children to play outside for an hour or 2. This lets them get out any excess energy before I sit them down to do some hardcore school work. It works.
Yesterday was no different. The kids were all playing outside (except A. who decided she wanted to get some of her schoolwork done while it was quiet). The baby and I were out front, talking to our neighbor, and the other 3 kids were in the fenced in back yard.
Two police cars pulled up in front of my house. They got out and asked if I had any other children here. I told them yes, and he asked how many. I said I have 5. He told me that someone had called and said there were school aged children playing in my yard instead of being at school (NOSY!! Why would you do that???)
He said, "Is there any reason they're not in school?".
To which I replied, "Yes, I homeschool them."
Let me pause for a moment and tell you what the laws are here in Texas. If you are homeschooling in Texas, you are considered a private school. As such, no one has the right to come in and inspect your curriculum (just like they can't walk into an "actual" private school and do that).
Police are not allowed to harass you; all you need to say is that you're homeschooling, and they - by law - are not supposed to say anything else.
With that said, he took down my name, DOB & phone number, then told me he needed to verify that I was homeschooling. I asked him how, and he said he needed to see books and schoolwork that they've been doing.
I was angry. But, because I knew he could make things miserable if he wanted to, and I'm not experienced enough with dealing with the law, I did as he asked. Afterwards, I called a friend of mine to verify that I actually didn't have to do that.
And I was right. I didn't have to do anything. What I SHOULD have done (and you know what they say, hindsight is 20/20) is gone inside, printed out a copy of the Texas homeschooling laws, and showed it to him.
Oh well, at least now I know what to do if it happens again!
