If it Looks Too Good to be True...

I've been seeing some blog plugs on K-12 Free Homeschooling pop up and was getting ready to write something but noticed this most excellent post from The Home Education Magazine's Editor Blog on Mimi Rothschild, the head cheese of K-12 Free. From the blog:

I’ve waited two days to write this post, believing it’s best to err on the side of caution when the stakes are potentially very high. Having waited two days, and having considered all the harassing phone calls, all the blisteringly-written letters, all the provoking emails, all the threatened lawsuits… well… enough is enough.

Mimi Rothschild contacted our advertising manager last week “seeking to run a large ad campaign in Home Education Magazine.” Knowing our lengthy history with this individual - her last contentious email and phone call were in February - our advertising manager contacted us and asked if we wanted to run her advertisements. We said no, we did not want her advertising in our magazine, for reasons which can be readily identified through our past communications with Mimi and her multiple dbas and aliases.

The post goes on to detail lots of interesting things about Mimi including a great series of infomative comments about her on a HE&OS thread. I'll add a couple of sources that I often use when I notice homeschoolers asking about K-12 Free Homeschooling or any of the other sites run by Ms. Rothschild. Both have lots of information that you can follow up on.

Hawaii Virtual School - Apparently people searching for them had experienced some confusion and ended up on Mimi Rothschild sites. They put up this page with a lot of info, including links to articles and court documents (!).

Homeschool.com thread - This details some troubles some members of the forum had had with K12 Free. Search for "mimi" and you'll find more threads on the same matter.

When we're looking for education options for our children we've got to be careful. Before you sign up for something, take a few moments to plug the name into Google. Even better, pair the name with "complaints" and see what comes up. Make sure you do your research because even something that seems free can cause a whole lot of pain and heartache.