Homeschool Children Participating in Public School Activities

I agree, they should be allowed to participate since their parents pay taxes, too. But the activities should not be altered to allow for any special provisions just because home-schoolers are participating.

I do not think home schoolers should be able to pick and choose what programs they want to participate in and what programs they do not. The home schoolers themselves and/or their parents choose for what ever reason to opt out of the public school system. I believe that in this instance either they are in the public school system or they are out. Is the public school system going to be held liable if the home schooled child get hurt or killed while participating in these extracurricular activities? Home schooling is nothing more than a wedge for parents to separate their children from people and situations that are different from them and their beliefs. The public school system although not perfect is a wonderful way to integrate different children from different backgrounds so they can learn to get along and live with each other. I believe one of the major problems in this country today is that people are allowed and even encouraged to fear and run away from difference. People today have it in their minds that if someone does not have the same skin, eye, and hair color as me then they are something I should distance myself from and not associate with at best and ridicule at worst. If these people want their children to receive the benefits of their tax dollars then they should put them in the public school system instead of whining about their tax dollars. I also believe if these parents put the time and energy into the public schools with their children in them that they currently spend whining about they do not get out of and what they do not like about the public schools, they and the public schools would be much better places.

I noticed in your personal comments that you put you would rather see the public schools shut down? My question is what would you replace them with? I believe if all educational opportunities where private then the disparity in the quality of education would be worse than it was when our schools were racially segregated and then I do not believe that home schooling existed on such a wide scale then. If you feel your children are missing out on opportunities then maybe you should consider putting them into the public schools.

Wow Braxton, some of us do not choose to homeschool because of religious beliefs. I homeschool my son because his special needs were not being met in public school. Should he be denied athletic programs and the like because of the school's failure to provide him with the services that he needs? I think you would be surprised to find that my situation is not all that unique.

Wendey I posted a response at your article about your son.

Braxton, I believe in the separation of school and state because public school is a form of welfare costing this country billions of dollars every year, and because parents should be more responsible for their children's education rather than thinking someone else will do it for them.

We are trained to be dependent on government handouts from the time we enter public kindergarten.

We who support the Alliance for the Separation of School & State believe that children should be homeschooled or educated in private schools. We also believe that those who cannot afford private education should receive scholarships from private organizations.

Wendey, like you, my children were not homeschooled for religious reasons. The motivation never had anything to do with keeping them from people of other races or beliefs. Their best friends were black when we lived in the SF Bay Area. Here in the mountains they have had Native American friends.

My motivation for homeschooling was that I wanted to spend all my time with my kids, educating them in the things they most wanted to learn about. Also my daughter was in a special education school and desperately needed to be out of that situation. Homeschooling was a wonderful adventure for us.

(My daughter graduated from highschool a few weeks ago; my teenage son is in public school now.)

This is a very interesting topic - thank you for the update. It would be nice if homeschoolers could participate in some activities, such as music and sports. In my district, participation in any of the schools activities is not allowed if a child is homeschooled - a shame.

While I have been home on maternity/family leave, we have homeschooled our oldest son. He is thriving at home! I am scheduled to return back to the classroom in September. There is still plenty of time to make final decisions, but I am not excited at all about the prospect of leaving my children.

Nicely done article, congratulations - I am featuring this article in The Educators Review!

My question to you Linda is are you totally self-sufficient?

Thanks Lisa!!

And Braxton.. why do you ask?

Sounds like Brax is readying a bait and switch argument, Linda.

LOL, thanks for a clue to the clueless, Austin. I'm just glad my kids are almost all adults now. I've got four out of the nest and one left to go. He's sixteen. In my retirement from motherhood I'm finding freedom to work outside my home again. I am so tired of trying to make home businesses work...

If there are other resources available, such as a public playground that offers the sport, then I don't think the child should be allowed to play for a school that they do not attend.

I believe physical education and team sport participalting is important for all children, so if there aren't any public playgrounds or other resources, then the child should be allowed to participate on the team of their "district" school.

In cities like mine where most of the public schools are charters, I don't see how that system can work fairly since al l the home schooled students are going to want to choose the school that has the best team.

Hmm...if property tax goes towards school funding, I don't see a problem with it. I would prefer to see the home schoolers have to pay additional fees to offset the cost and that the student only be able to play at the school they would have been assigned to if they attended instead of being taught at home. It probably wouldn't hurt for home schooled children to get a bit more social maturation that they miss out on in home school as well.

Linda -- I appreciate your article. Very thought provoking. on another note -- you said that you were weary of home-based businesses. I did that for several years. There were some perks, but I would rather work outside the home.

New here. But appalled at the assumptions made in some of the arguments against Lisa's premise. Rather than taking a defensive or offensive position based on homeschoolers' assumed motivation (here, that homeschoolers do so for religious reasons or concerns about differences - don't you really mean racism?) why not answer this question? What's wrong with allowing students whose parents determine their needs are better met outside the school for some things, and inside the school for others? Especially if this causes no disruption.
I am in favor of allowing homeschoolers access to after-school programs, and I believe that many strong opinions to the contrary reveal a desire to exclude homeschoolers - not the other way around. In fact, if I were to engage in the very unfair and unproductive practice of mind-reading the motivations of large groups, I'd say this faction is bitter about my choice to homeschool (but not bitter at all about taking my tax dollars) and if I won't capitulate to someone else's idea of what it is to educate my child then, I don't get to play with their marbles at all! But that would be unfair and unproductive, wouldn't it?

I feel that because parent's tax dollars are being used to fund the schools they should be able to use the school's resources the same as other families if they choose. Just as a family using the public school system has the right not to participate, a family homeschooling has the right to choose to participate. After all, the schools aren't picky about where there tax money they get is from.

They can either let homeschoolers have access to these programs as they fit into thier needs, give homeschooling parents the same check that they give the schools (if they choose to subject thier children to the BS tests), or stop making them pay school taxes and forcing them to financially support a system they don't ethically support.

The school I teach at does not allow homeschooled children to participate in extracurricular activities (at least the handbook says they can not participate). I was wondering if anyone knows of any court cases where a parent sued there local school district to have their son or daughter participate in extracurricular activities and won?

I think it is neat that homeschool kids can participate in public school activities in some states. However, I have to ask the homeschool parents this...
Why would you want your children to participate in those activities with the children that you don't want them in school with?
I am a homeschool mom.

I didn't want my children to go to school activities, but they wanted and needed activities that I couldn't provide for them, that weren't available anywhere in our small, remote, mountain community except in public school. Therefore I had a difficult choice to make: watch them suffer as unhappy homeschoolers not getting what they wanted, or get them connected to the school system where the activities they wanted were available. By the time they were fifteen they were both enrolled in public schools because it was what they needed. I still value my years as a homeschooling mother, and am glad we did it. However I'm also thrilled my son now goes to auto shop, small engine repair shop, and wood shop - all classes I couldn't provide for him. He had metal shop last year. These are the classes he's best at, and his shop teachers rave about what a great student he is for them. My daughter was also praised for her independent thinking ability which the teachers weren't used to seeing in their students. She graduated last year.

As a home schooling mother of four, I'm genuinely amazed at some of the comments made on this post. To assume that the majority of home educators make that choice because of religion or racism is...well, we'll call it very ill informed. :) What an outdated misconception.

I home school because my children are recieving a much better education from me than they can from the Department of Education. An entity cannot teach my child in a way that I find satisfactory. This has nothing to do with extracurricular programs. Educational learning and football, baseball and soccer have nothing in common. Why in the world would anyone think they do? Let's go another route: Let's assume that most parents home educate because they know they can do it better. Testing scores, educational bees, and honor societies validate that claim. However, they cannot place their child on a football field or baseball diamond and get the same results as a team. Is that more clear to those of you that correlate the two? They do pay the taxes that pay for both. Why should they be charged MORE when they aren't taking from the system educationally? That makes no sense.

But, I would warn home schoolers to be careful with the tax arguement. ALL citizens living in that district pay educational taxes, including singles, the elderly and people without school age children. That is a straw man arguement, at best.

Besides, there are much better ways to socialize your kids than public or private schools. Those making the arguement that home schoolers aren't socialized are, once again, showing their ignorance in understanding the home schooling process. Actually, it's been noted by several upper level Universities, including Harvard, that their home schooled students integrate better into campus life and show a much higher level of maturity and academic concentration.

I believe that home schoolers should be allowed to participate in public school sports if the parents choose to place them there. I think it's blatant discrimination to not allow them into the sports programs. Should someone in the special programs be refused admittance? After all, they're taking more of the tax dollars than anyone else, right? Should children who take remedial classes be excluded? They may make A's, but it's only in remedial classes, right? Of course not! It's called discrimination and the public schools are TERRIFIED of home schoolers. We test better, our kids don't act out in the same way, we have a much higher graduation level and we have huge numbers that continue their educations after high school. That makes them look bad and they exclude us from anything they can.

We're excluded from the Beta Club and National Honor Society, as well. But, we've founded our own with even higher qualifications than the public system. Our societies are recognized by every University in the US. As is our National Home School Debate Team, which will be on Fox before the November Presidential debates. I'd think, with those records, it would be more beneficial to develop our OWN home school sports teams. All indications point toward home schoolers doing better in every thing that they've tried outside the publicly funded system.

That's not being rude, that's just statistical facts.

To all, especially Kristi W. I know this reply is a year after the discussion, but I had to respond.
Any parent who chooses to home school, does so for whatever reason. All reasons are surely valid. However, when that choice is made to home school, the parent also chooses to not participate in school activities. If you want your child to participate in sports, there are programs run by each city or town to accommodate such needs. Little League Baseball is NOT a school related activity, Pee Wee Football is NOT a school related activity. I hope you understand that you don't need to join the public school system for sports, for your children to participate in these activities.
IF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF YOUR CHILD, NEITHER SHOULD THEIR SPORTS OR ANY OTHER EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY.