Homeschooling under siege?

It should be everyone right to school there children as you feel fit. With the things happening in our schools all across the country who do they think they are to tell us how to school our children? They cant even keep them safe when they are in there care. How sad!

That's absolutely ridiculous to me! As parents, it is OUR choice how our children should be taught. In our area, there are plenty of teachers in the public schools that DON'T have teaching credentials, yet no one says anything about our children being taught by them. Why is it now that they're trying to say that parents need to live up to standards that public school teachers aren't even being held to?

The restriction in California is kinda nuts. I wonder what brought it on in the first place? What group brought a lobby forward on this?

The statement about the Constitution is correct, unfortunately. There's no specific Constitutional ammendment guaranteeing the right to self-school one's children. *sigh*

Everyone should be able to school their own children! That's a farce!

weird...doesn't it cost about $5,000 a year to public school a child...maybe they will take that money and send you to school to get your certificate.
seriously, they could use the money saved to hire a teacher to visit and look at lesson plans...
I bet the motive is to get more money for the schools

Alta, I'm not exactly a home schooling fan, but I'm not against it eeither. I think it has it's trade offs. My biggest objection is that kids might not learn to interact with others from all walks of life, which they need to develop skills for in later life. I have a cousin who home schools and a daughter who teaches in a middle school, so I see both sides. However, I always assume parents of home schooled children weigh this and other factors into their decisions. Ultimately, I feel they are your children, and you must do what feels right for your family. No one knows them better than you do and no one should have the right to tell you how to raise them (the exception being child abuse). You come accross as an intelligent and loving person and I don't doubt for a minute that you are doing what is best for your family. Keep on doing it. There's no reason you should have to be a certified teacher as the rules and guidelines are clear and the tests your children have to turn in to the state would show if they weren't learning things properly. Do you know all it takes to be a teacher is a ba? there are no big rulesor tests for teachers to pass. All they have to do is apply for a job and get hired. Scary isn't it. Stick to your guns, Honey, you're doing the right thing and I'm behind you 100%!!!

I think that all parents should be allowed to homeschool their kids but I don't think that it's so terrible for the parent to have a teaching certificate. Maybe California can get some kind of certificate class taught online for parents.

Hi Alta. Thanks for posting to Kids and Grandkids. This is important information for parents to know, especially if they are in California.

I'm a homeschooler too and I'm not the least bit concerned about this. It's just the HSLDA doing their usual fear-mongering.

I agree with Sharon. A certificate for homeschoolers seems fair.

Most of this has died down now, although the various legal folks are still working on getting the ruling de-published. I will not, however, sign the HSLDA petition - I think that having too many people outside of the state demanding changes can have a negative effect.

I'd urge folks to read Melissa Wiley's blog, especially stuff from last week:

http://melissawiley.com/blog/

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I am so impressed with everyones replies! Awesome comments.
I did take a look at Melissa Wiley's blog and I am certainly glad that Homebody E sent put the link in for us all to enjoy. Thank you Homebody E.

I do disagree that home schoolers should be certified. Actually that would depend on what the certification involves. If the price of getting certified is expensive then only wealthy families would be able to home school their children.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments!

I was under the impression that up until a short time ago, you were not allowed to home school unless you *were* a teacher (in PA anyway). Maybe the laws are different for each state. The only problem I can see with homeschooling is the possibility that the parents will not actually teach their kids to have an open mind.

Barbara, the laws are different in every state, and in no state are you required to be a teacher. The hoops you have to jump through if you're not a teacher vary just as the laws so, but homeschooling is legal in every state, even if you're not certified.

The statistics and above-average performance of most homeschoolers speak for themselves, I do believe. Certification is not necessary.

That's really sad. I definitely think Parents should have the right to homeschool if they want to.

Thank you. I signed this for support. I am not in Cali...but I think it is a parents right to choose to home school their children. I have seen many parents do this and their kids strive better than in a regular school setting.

I never home schooled but I considered it on my oldest son. He had uncontrolled Epilepsy I was always arguing with the teachers about making accommodation's with him. As well as he missed a lot of school. I did decide in the long run to get him a tutor myself but still I feel this is the rights of the parents.

My son and daughter-in-law homeschooled my granddaughter and she graduated at 16. Neither of them has a teaching certificate. She went to two years of high school and dropped out to finish by homeschool because there were too many distractions in the high school.

Thanks for sharing your concern. Pray that things will be ok in California

I agree with Andrea. They used to scare the crap out of me, and then i realized that all the stuff they were talking about never happened.