Why is home schooling still legal? Isn't it in the child's best interest to attend an accredited school?

there are several organizations which help homeschooling perhaps you should look into them. on that note. whats there to say kids are not being abused at good ole public schools. And to me it Sounds a bit intolerant that you would think that all people being forced into one kind of education is just that. do your research about home schooling before you go off and accuse everyone who is home schooled is being taught by ignorant hatemongers. American public and some private schools have plenty of them already.

You learn to trust people, I am home schooled, I have not been told to hate people of a certain ethnicity or anything! I learn on a level far beyond that of anyone in my same grade!

Hello. Your question about whether it's the child's best interest to attend an accredited school first assumes that we (parents, society, homeschoolers + non-homeschoolers) are seeking what's best for the child, which I firmly agree and support. So I believe that's a point that we (you and I) both agree. However, I think that assuming that an accredited school is in the best interests of the child is a dangerous one. Let's just take one state in our nation, California, for example. In California, during 2006-2007, less than 70% of high school students graduated. Specifically, 24% dropped out - 127,292 kids didn't get their diploma. Utterly depressing. Do you think that an accredited school (all public schools are accredited by the state in which they are located) was best for those 127,292 kids? Now, I know that California has one of the worst public school systems in the nation, and it won't be fair to extrapolate California's drop out rate across the 49 other states, but I just want to make my point that an accredited school is NOT in the best interests of the child, in each and every case. What IS in the best interest of the child is to provide an academic curriculum and environment that the child CAN realize her potential - that's no secret. Home schooling then, is just an attempt to provide that customized academic curriculum and environment to best fit the needs of the child. Accredited schools, on the other hand, is an attempt to fit a child into a standardized academic curriculum (read: no flexibility in pacing the student's learning, no flexibility in changing social environment if there are bad social factors that is undermining the child's learning ability (i.e., drugs, gang violence, etc.)). In fact, I like to draw the analogy that home schooling is like getting a custom-tailored suit while public school is like purchasing a suit off-the-rack...Given a choice between the two, which would you choose? I think the answer is obvious. But you raise another excellent point - how do we know that home schooling is better for the child if there's no way to verify that abuse or something "bad", such as hate and intolerance, is being taught? In all reality, we can't. At least not these days. The fact that you would choose that tailored-made suit depends on a critical assumption that the tailor has the SKILLS necessary to make a bunch of fabric into a great fitting masterpiece. And the states just don't have enough resources to monitor EACH and EVERY home schooled family. But, can you say that it is any better at public schools, where the states ALSO do not have enough resources to make sure that abuse isn't occuring? Have you read, or even better, talked to some kids in the Los Angeles Country School District, the second largest school district in the United States, and asked them whether they were not abused by kids and/or teachers? Believe me, abuse happens in accredited schools. Also, don't forget that hate and intolerance cannot only be taught by teachers...they can also be taught on the school playgrounds by kids. Ask any kid in public school whether they have witnessed or participated in, or even been a victim of discrimination and I'm sure a majority of them would raise their hands. Believe me, hate and intolerance happens in accredited schools. At least in home schooling, there is more control around these things that we would assume that parents would enforce and monitor. As for your concern on how we can be sure that the home schooled children are learning what is necessary, I can assure you here that home schooled children are learning what is necessary (and then some). But don't take my word for it...look at the statistics: 1) Home schoolers outperformed their public school peers by 30% - 37% across all academic subjects based on standard academic achievement tests, 2) On average, home school students in grades 1-4 perform one grade level above their public and private school peers, 3) By 8th grade, the average home school student performs at 4 grades above their public and private school peers, 4) 98% of home schooled students are involved in at least 2 activities outside the “classroom”. In fact, the average number of activities is 5.2 per student (I threw this last one in for those concerned about socialization). These statistics above were gathered from “The Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998”, Lawrence A. Rudner, PH.D., Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment, and Evaluation and from Strengths of Their Own—Home Schoolers Across America: Academic Achievement, Family Characteristics, and Longitudinal Traits, Brian D. Ray, 1997. In summary, if you still have some burning questions about home schooling in your mind, I recommend that you visit my website http://www.prontolessons.com Hope this clears some stuff up for you. Sun Bae http://www.prontolessons.com

Your question had to make me laugh.......indoctrinated?? Isn't that what happens when children are no longer allowed to be educated in the way they and their parents choose and they are forced to attend a public school and be taught what the state wants them to learn?

All of those things can be happening to your child in public school just as easily as at home. Google 'teacher' and 'abuse' and see how many horror stories you find. Are you seriously trying to tell me that all public school students learn what is necessary? (If so, why the dropout rate? Why the prevalent functional illiteracy?) Do you really believe they are free from hate and intolerance, or that public school teachers never try to shove their own bigoted and intolerant views down kids' throats? It is most emphatically not in the child's best interest to attend public school in some cases. My son is profoundly gifted but with severe learning disabilities and visual and motor deficits. His verbal IQ was measured at 150+ (he hit the ceiling on the SB IV at 5 years old), while his performance IQ (visual-spatial) was a mere 86. The school psychologist who evaluated him was unequivocal about her opinion that a public school classroom was probably not the best educational option for him since he required extreme acceleration to accommodate his giftedness, high levels of accommodation and OT for his visual and motor deficits, and intensive academic support in his areas of cognitive disability. All this would have been very difficult to provide in the context of a school classroom, but has been a relative breeze at home. The IEP that his public school proposed was essentially that he sit down and shut up until someone could be bothered to get around to teaching him what he needed. They initially indicated that since his combined IQ was 116, he was normal and needed NO special services whatsoever, in spite of a five-page report from their psychologist detailing why this was not the case. At home, we don't need special permission to let him use a keyboard for all his written assignments. His school was very resistant to this idea, even though it was specifically recommended by their own psychologist. At home, we don't have to make up the work he missed while he was at his OT and PT appointments, because he didn't miss anything. He gets instruction and therapy on a schedule that best meets his needs. At home, he can study college level literature and middle school math in the same year without having to be bussed to two different campuses. At home, he can adjust the lighting to the level that is optimal for his vision without worrying about whether the other 25 kids in the classroom can read in that kind of light. And so on... Homeschooling allows for individualized instruction with a very low-student teacher ratio - the very conditions that educational research shows provides the optimal learning outcomes. You really should check out the statistics on how well homeschool students perform in comparison to their public school counterparts. I have a big problem with the idea that a stranger is going to care more about my son and do more to protect him than I would. He is evaluated every year by a certified teacher, in compliance with Florida law, and I can tell you that none of his evaluators has ever had a single qualm about recommending that he remain in homeschool.

The purpose of school isn't to check for abuse or to curtail hate and intolerance. It's SUPPOSED to be to educate the kids, but that's entirely questionable. The average score for our particular state's many, many accredited public schools lies at the 35th percentile. I don't care what grading scale you use, that equates to an F. Those kids absolutely are NOT learning what they need to. Have you noticed the incredible recent rise in suicide and murder in schools connected to the bullying factor? Try Googling news stories that pertain to school violence; where's the protection? I'm talking way beyond Columbine (I attended school in the same school district where this happened), I'm talking much more recent stuff. Schools can't erase hate and intolerance any more than the military forces have been able to in regard to their recruits. Homeschooling is still legal because...so far...parents have been given responsibility for their kids instead of the state. If you go far enough down this rabbit hole, why aren't all newborns immediately taken away from their breeders (parents) and placed into safe institutions run by accredited, licensed nurses and early childhood educators? Why not sterilize everyone at about 12 years old and allow the state to later on select who may or may have the procedure reversed and reproduce based on the results of mandatory intelligence and aptitude tests? Why not let the government take your test scores from school and determine your career path, USSR-style? Why not let them supply and select your clothing, your music, your home, your income.... ...because we don't want the state to exercise that much control over you and your family. It isn't in anyone's best interest to have bureaucrats making their decisions for them. You deserve to have the freedom to choose both for yourself and your children what's right for you & yours. We respect and trust you enough to handle that in a thoughtful and responsible manner...and we even allow you to do it when we think it might (?) be a mistake. Your post might make one think you've become a small-minded bureaucrat yourself, one who hates those who hold different opinions and values and who thinks they should be criminalized. Isn't that hate and intolerance?

If you want to raise sheep, send your kids to school. If you want to raise leaders who will be able to think for themselves, apply critical thinking skills and utilize their creative abilities, educate your kids at home. Note to Carrie: What gives you or anyone else the right to decide what is *best* for the children of other people? What gives you the right to decide what is *necessary* for all children to learn? Maybe if there were MORE mothers and fathers who were truly invested in the education of their kids, and who truly enjoyed the company of their children, the world would be a much safer and better place for all children. I am so very glad that my home educated daughter will grow up with the ability to dissect the closed-minded thinking patterns of people like you and see them for what they really are.

How can we be sure they are not being abused at school? Who has the right to decide what is necessary? Hate and intolerance are rampant in public schools. Maybe home schooling is not always a good plan BUT unless you have a perfect one then why should your criticize it... I can only imagine you a comparing it to a public school and those have a vast number of flaws so what is your solution.

Homeschooling kids are taught a higher level of education then ANY public school anywhere in the country...the test scores prove it to be a Pure fact Homeschooling kids are given a test and they MUST pass it to qualify to remain Home schooled.....how many public school systems do that ? NONE Home schooled kids for example in middle school are already at college level learning before they enter high school grades.... Their test scores show that actual fact.... They surpass all degrees of learning skills and master them , not just are on the average as public school test scores show most children in public schools are average to most below average learning for their grade level........ And 9 out of 10 public school kids have been abused in public schools either by another student and or a teacher or faculty member.... Test scores show the learning and reality of the individual student not a set country or state test that shows an average overall score... THus the Board of Education in which ever State the home schooled child is in sets the guidelines and maintains them in yearly set tests and laws of the State and must be given to the Board of education at the end of every school term . Any that are failing and or not rising in learning skills and abilities is inspected and are not allowed to home school if the childs learning does not increase year upon year and or that child has shown any loss of skills and are not maintained in their proper grade levels..... And the ONLY hate thats taught is in Public schools where we see shootings and rapes and murders and abuse recorded by the media on an almost Daily basis...........