Virtual Capitol Day & Advocacy at Home
Organized by CHEA and Family Protection Ministries (FPM)Join Family Protection Ministries (FPM) and Christian Home Educators Association of California (CHEA) for Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home, an event for private homeschool families.
Virtual Capitol Day will take place on Saturday, February 13, 2021.
Training for District Office Meetings | Inspiring Speakers
We will have special speakers join us who will train you to meet your state legislators through their district offices near you. Together with you, we will create a visible presence and positive impression of private Christian home education.
*Event details subject to change*
Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy at Home participants must undergo an application process and be approved prior to participating.
What is Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home?
Our Capitol Day, an event for private homeschool families, has been held in partnership with FPM in Sacramento at the beginning of each new two-year legislative session for the past three decades.Because of COVID-19, the Capitol building will most likely not be available for tours and meetings with legislators in early 2021. Therefore, FPM and CHEA will instead be training volunteer private homeschool families to meet with their legislators through their local district offices (which will most likely be a virtual meeting or phone call, since these are the options district offices have at the moment to communicate with constituents). This combined effort between FPM, CHEA, and private homeschool families is called Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home.
Virtual Capitol Day includes:
- Virtual training session to train you to meet your legislators through their district offices (required for participants)
- Special speakers with insights on the inner workings of the Capitol and the importance of your involvement
Advocacy from Home includes:
- Contacting your legislators and their staff
- Homeschool families providing homeschool information to their legislator(s)
Training and Speakers – Live training on how to contact and meet your legislator is required for all participants. Training for our volunteer families will also be provided with written material that will be emailed and pre-recorded videos that will help prepare them to make a visit to their legislator’s district office. In addition to training, you’ll hear inspiring messages from those who work with the legislature at the Capitol through a live webinar.
Meeting your Legislator – After training, you will be equipped to contact and make an appointment with your legislator or his/her staff at his/her district office and share about private home education with them. This meeting will most likely be a virtual meeting or phone call, since these are the options district offices have at the moment to communicate with constituents. Plan to join us in this effort and please share this with your homeschool group members so we can have all 120 district offices met by private homeschool families!
Apply for Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home
Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home is an event for private homeschool families.All Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home participants must undergo an application process for approval prior to being trained during Virtual Capitol Day.
To apply for Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home, please fill the application below. Once your application is approved, you will be able to register and attend Virtual Capitol Day in a live webinar and be trained to participate in Advocacy from Home.
More About Advocacy from Home
Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home is an event for private homeschool families.Personal Meetings – District Office Meetings
Maintaining relationships with our representatives is key. We are seeking homeschool families with their well-behaved, well-dressed homeschooled students who are willing to be trained to schedule a meeting with their state representatives through their home district offices. The purpose of the visit is to establish a good relationship and a positive image of private homeschooling for when the issue of new regulations of home education comes up in the future. The goal is to provide information about private home education to our California state legislators and their staff in a friendly, professional manner through our volunteer private homeschoolers.
Why you?
It is important that each legislator talks to someone who lives in their district because that is who they represent and that is who they are working to please when they are at their district office. Talking with you, the private homeschoolers, allows them the opportunity to talk with actual homeschool families who live in their district. Legislators are much more likely to listen to and care about someone whom they represent.
Families and articulate teens should be willing to be trained to make an appointment with the district office (which may be either a phone call or a virtual meeting, since these are the options most offices are currently offering), introduce themselves, and provide their representatives with a information about private homeschooling.
We need families who live in each of the districts for all 40 state senators and 80 state assembly members.
We aim to have all 120 offices contacted by private homeschoolers.
What does Advocacy from Home accomplish?
- It informs this year’s newly elected legislators and their staff while reminding the veteran legislators of the benefits of private homeschooling.
- It strengthens our working relationship with legislators and their staff on a professional level.
- It leaves them with a way to contact us if they ever have any questions about home education.
This event is especially vital for the many new legislators and their new aides who have not yet become familiar with private home education. In fact, a significant number of the legislators and their aides have no idea how private homeschooling works, either practically or legally, or that there are homeschoolers in their districts. These meetings go a long way toward helping them see that homeschoolers are good, law-abiding citizens who are living and working in their districts.
Additionally, advocating for your freedoms is a great learning opportunity for your family!
More about Legislators’ District Offices
Legislators have a completely separate staff in their district offices than in their capitol offices, so it is vital that we contact their district offices. This way they will already have a proper understanding of what private home education is and know real live homeschoolers when the subject of private homeschooling comes up in the legislature.
It is important to coordinate the visit with us. Only one group or individual should visit the same legislator in a single day.
Please consider joining us in this effort!
Visit this page to stay updated, call us at (562) 864-2432, or email us for more info!
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Virtual Capitol Day?
Virtual Capitol Day is Saturday, February 13, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Who should participate in Virtual Capitol Day and Advocacy from Home?
All private homeschool families are invited to join us!
Why conduct Capitol Day through district office meetings?
Participating in these district office visits will show clearly to our state legislators that private homeschool freedoms are of constant concern to families from around the state. Families who express determination and interest in protecting these freedoms, even during the pandemic, show our legislators just how vital these freedoms are to the homeschooling community. During this pandemic season, a meeting through the district office is much more effective and likely to occur than a visit to a legislator’s Capitol office.
What is a district office meeting like?
A legislator’s district office is calmer and more relaxed than their capitol office. A legislator will have more time to discuss issues specific to the district and to really connect with the people of the district that he or she represents. For example, during a meeting homeschool families can express gratitude for the work he or she is doing, mentioning that they want the best quality education for their child(ren) and that they are teaching their child(ren) at home.
Can my children also be in the meeting with my legislator?
Children are welcome and encouraged to attend with their parents.