With all the talk about the School Walkout this Monday, October 18th, which I want to clarify, is not an actual walkout where you go and walkout but actually a SIT-OUT, do not attend, do not get an excused absence, it needs to be an unexcused absence.  I wanted to share another reason why I am so passionate and looking forward to participating this Monday.  

A lot of people discuss how we are hurting the schools by not attending.  They are quick to point out our school loses funding, which is one of the main reasons I was hesitant at the very beginning as well.  I love our school, they are against the mandate, the school walk out isn't about them.  

The school walkout is aimed towards the State of California, in protest to Governor Newsom's intent to mandate the Covid Vaccine and unfortunately, yes the schools do lose funding for one day for our voices to be heard.  The school walkout is one way we can show we mean business as parents and to fight for our freedom of choice.  If we do not take a stand now and the mandate goes through, the schools, teachers, staff, and a lot of families will be hurt in the long run, when teachers and staff are forced to quit and families forced to pull their kids from school. 

Everyone wants to say just, write and call, I have done that, and will continue, sometimes it is just not enough.  As parents we cannot just sit on the sidelines and wait for everyone else to fight for us.  I understand some school boards are fighting for parents rights, but many are not.  Even the ones that are fighting, they can only do so much and guess what at the end of the day, they are going to do what they have to do (comply) to stay in business.  

Have you read about the Sacramento City Unified School District and their mandate recently voted, they already give students and staff until November 30th to be vaccinated.  You can read more about that here https://bit.ly/3DMounz.

I wanted to share a little part of my homeschool experience and how it plays a role in why I say we need to stand now and say NO to the Vaccine Mandate.  I homeschooled my oldest son for his 5th, 6th and 7th grade school years.  All of my boys went to a small private Christian School, that used a faith based Curriculum.  My oldest son did not grow up using Common Core Math, so when I enrolled him with Visions in Education a Homeschool Charter option, I did not want him to struggle with Common Core Math in which he was not familiar with. I wanted to stick with Abeka Curriculum for a few of the subjects, Math being one of them. 

I understood, that if you chose any "non-approved" curriculum you would have to pay out of pocket for that and I was completely okay with that.  The first year we homeschooled, he was allowed to turn in that work for school credit.  The second year, he had to do additional work to turn in which they considered "approved curriculum" so in essence he had to do double the work because I wanted to use a faith based curriculum, the third year, he couldn't submit any of the Abeka Curriculum, the rules kept changing year after year.  Maybe it was the the Charter I went through, maybe there was another way, but I saw with my own eyes how difficult it was even to homeschool my own child in the State of California.  

When I say I chose a faith based curriculum I also want to explain we are talking about 5th and 6th grade math, it still met all state standards, the difference was the word problems used faith based language.  For example, instead of a word problem saying, Mrs. Smith went to the store and bought 10 apples, she gave 4 to her neighbor how many apples does Mrs. Smith have left?  It would say Mrs. Smith bought a dozen apples for her Sunday School Class, ten of the children ate apples how many are left?  The Curriculum had a scripture at the end of each lesson. All the other problems, division, decimals, etc. were the normal math problems that you would see in any other curriculum.  

The fact that as a homeschool parent I did not have liberty to use whichever curriculum I wanted is beyond me.  There were other instances as well, where certain books we wanted to use for a biography essay were not allowed, and I understand there has to be some grade level standards, got that, completely agree, but when a curriculum and or book meets the standards but is discriminated against because it uses faith based language that is ridiculous. This is me the parent, teaching my own child, in my own home and it is not "allowed".  I am even okay, with the fact you have to use your personal funds and not "school funds" to purchase but the fact you cannot use it as school credit, ridiculous.  

Government overreach is out of hand and continues to trend even more in that direction, I am by no means an expert on some of the issues that California faces. What I do know is too often I hear from friends and family how difficult it is to own a small business in California.  I know many families who have packed up their families and moved out of State, something they never wanted to do but felt forced out by all the Government overreach.  

Again I would like to stress that I am not anti-vaccine, what I want is for parents to be able to choose for their own children if they want to take it or not.  Many times people will say, Vaccines have already been mandated, well only 5 out of 16 vaccines are required for school enrollment and they were not immediately mandated.  Parents should have liberty to wait until they feel comfortable, the vaccine has not even been out that long, it has not stood the test of time for adverse affects on our kids.  I have read articles on how there is an increased risk of inflammation in the heart of boys ages 12-17, I have four boys and I am not going to let you just "try" it out on my kids. If the Vaccine works against COVID-19, then why are people concerned about the people who do not choose the Vaccine. I am not against you giving the Vaccine to your children if you want to, go ahead, but why should I be forced to?  

Also I know in the news we hear about low ICU beds and more, but what I know personally is the school my kids attend which they have been attending in person learning since last September there are no mass outbreaks.  The schools my friends kids attend, no mass outbreaks and the kids who have contracted COVID-19, they have recovered without hospitalization.  

Why isn't natural immunity being taken into consideration, or antibody tests being offered, what about all the kids who may already have natural immunity because of exposure to COVID-19.  Why is this Vaccine being forced on everyone across the board? I'll tell you why money and power, it all comes down to money and power.  

My kids will be home this Monday, October 18th in protest to the Vaccine Mandate and if we have to do another sit out, walk out, whatever you want to call it, I will participate again. If we parents don't fight this now, we are going to have to deal with it within the next school year, and too often things are already set in motion that it is too late, we cannot just put it off until then. Homeschool and Private School Parents please do not think you are exempt, sit out, homeschoolers, report as unexcused absence, show up to peacefully protest, call and write.  

Thank you for reading, please share and help spread the word I also want to say thank you to the people who have asked questions to find out my why in a kind and respectful way.  There is no reason to be mean and verbally attack people because they do not agree with you.  This is America, land of the free, or so it is supposed to be, you are free to think how you think.  I do not judge or think anything negative towards parents who choose the vaccine for their children, they are your children.  We should all be grown up enough to show respect to others, we should be able to peacefully protest, our children are watching. 

Please follow and share my posts on social media you can find me on Instagram @BlogAboutItAll on Facebook at BlogAboutItAll and on TikTok @BlogAboutItAll, share, share, share!