

Home Schooling: More Pupils, Less Regulation - kanamekun
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/education/home-schooling-more-pupils-less-regulation.html

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kanamekun
I support home schooling, but with strong requirements like Pennsylvania used
to have:

<< Until recently, Pennsylvania had one of the strictest home-school laws in
the nation. Families keeping their children out of traditional classrooms were
required to register each year with their local school district, outlining
study plans and certifying that adults in the home did not have a criminal
record. At the end of the year, they submitted portfolios of student work to
private evaluators for review. The portfolio and evaluator’s report then went
to a school district superintendent to approve. >>

Pretty scary that "in half the states, children who are taught at home never
have to take a standardized test or be subject to any sort of formal outside
assessment."

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dragonwriter
While I think educational accountability standards are important, the
certification regarding criminal records seems to be simply copying public
school rules into home schooling blindly without reference to the purpose of
the rules.

The purpose of the certification for public schools is to allay parent fears
of unsafe strangers (to them) having contact with their children. It makes no
sense in a homeschooling situation (it might make sense as a requirement aimed
at people offering paid in-home child-focused services _to_ homeschooling
parents, but that's a different issue.)

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DanBC
The film "Jesus Camp" gives a few examples of fundamentalists who use home
schooling as an excuse to indoctrinate their children with weird untruths or
odd beliefs. (On top of the reasonable teaching of their religion).

The film "Waiting for Superman" shows how _terrible_ US schools are, and why
so many people make the reasonable choice to home-school.

It doesn't feel like people always put the child's needs first.

Jesus Camp:
[http://imdb.com/title/tt0486358/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0486358/)

Waiting for Superman:
[http://imdb.com/title/tt1566648/](http://imdb.com/title/tt1566648/)

