As a homeschooling parent I find the decision to outlaw homeschooling in California to be outrageous. It angers me. It scares me. It makes me wonder what the government is thinking. Is it not the right of the parent to decide how to school their children? Is it not their right to decide who should school their children? Apparently, in California, it no longer is. (Officials are not actively enforcing the law at this time, so anyone homeschooling is still able to do so.)
I’m confident that this ruling will be overturned, but until then, I will live in fear that what has happened in California could happen in other states. I will worry that even though HSLDA has received nearly 200,000 signatures on the petitition to depublish the court case that ruled homeschooling was illegal that there will be more people fighting to make this law stick.
A few people that know I homeschool have asked me my opinion on this and, of course, I tell them I am outraged. A few people have actually told me that, while they don’t think a teacher should have to be certified, they do think more laws should be in place to be sure the children are getting a good education. Previously the law in California was pretty easy to follow. So long as parents were “capable of teaching” (note that does not say CERTIFIED, just capable) then they were okay to homeschool. There are no home checks or state mandated tests or curriculum requirements. Do I think there should be something in place to make sure children don’t slip through the cracks? To make sure that parents are doing there jobs correctly and actually educating their children? Nope.
I say that we fix the system that is broken and leave home education alone. The public schools are failing at providing good educations to children. Statistics show that homeschooled children do better than public schooled children overall. Homeschooled children average 30% higher on test scores than public school children.
Why are we trying to fix the form of education that seems to be working well? Homeschoolers are doing better than private school kids! They are doing better than public school kids! Why are we OUTLAWING what is working? Why do people want to start changing the law now?
It is our right as the parents of our children to educate them how we see fit. It is our right to expose our children to only those people we choose. It is our right to keep our children safe by keeping them at home. It is our right to PARENT our children.
It is also our right to send our children to public school and I hope I haven’t offended anyone currently doing so. While I do believe that the majority of children will receive a better education at home, I also believe that parents have to know their limitations. Homeschooling does not work in every family and I trust that you, as the parent of your child, know what is best for your child. I trust that you want your child to receive the best education possible and you are providing it to your child, whether it is through home education, private school, or public school. I’d appreciate it if others could extend that same trust to me.
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, home, homeschool, California, law, HSLDA, certification, education[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by foreversouls, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
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2 responses so far ↓
InTheFastLane // Mar 14, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Let me just say upfront that I don’t have a problem with Homeschooling. I know many who do it well (and many in California too). There are many versions of homeschooling and some of my friends are members of homeschooling coops. I think it works for many kids and many parents.
However, I think the statistics are a little overstated. If the total population of homeschoolers is compared to the total population of public school students, the statistics will not be quiet be accurate. A more accurate comparison would be a breakdown of demographics within each population. Because, I think that there are not too many single parents or parents below the poverty line who homeschool their kids. Most of these kids would be in a comparison sample, however in the public schools. I know the statistics are out there, but I can’t find them right now.
I am not disputing the right of people to homeschool, however. And there are families that do not do it well as there are schools and teachers that do not do their jobs well. I am a little conflicted on the side of some accountability for parents, though. But, I do stand behind the rights of parents to homeschool as long as they are committed to meeting the needs of their child.
AmyL // Mar 15, 2008 at 7:12 am
According to NHELD (a homeschooling advocacy group similar in some ways to HSLDA) homeschooling has not been outlawed in CA. Analysis here: http://www.nheld.com/BTN60.htm
Even the HSLDA site emphasizes that the ruling was made for this particular family. Important to remember is the fact that the family was having child-protection issues in the first place.
What the Court in question did was to offer an opinion. They did not make law (courts can’t do that anyway…it’s up to the legislature) and barely made any kind of precedent, at least in terms of impacting all families in California. What the HSLDA petition is aiming for is to make sure to limit the decision/opinions to that family alone and not allow any other court to draw blanket generalizations from it to any other homeschooling family. According to NHELD, this decision is already applicable only to the family in question. See the site I referenced above for explanation.
Vigilance is a good thing, and we need to keep an eye on the courts and legislatures all the time (and not just for homeschooling, lol). It’s also important to remember that in today’s day and age of sensationalism and speedy news cycles, the media gets things wrong more often than not. Interesting point: the decision came out several days before the media frenzy happened.
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