Judge Orders Homeschoolers into Public Education

Thanks for the information.

Wow! I think the only reason the state should step in and order the child to go to school is if they're not being properly homeschooled. If the parent is neglecting the child of his or her studies then I do think the state has a reason to step in.

I think we need a little less goverment in our personal lives

Outrageous, this is not right. I can't believe with the amount of home schoolers in this country that this judge would do this. First off, I think it is the right of the parent and they do have to follow guidelines and they do have activities with other home schoolers. Second off, if all the home schoolers were to return to the public school systems, pray tell how would they accomodate all these children when most schools are over crowded already. All this homeschooling parents buy their own books etc. Unless these children were greatly impacted in some way which this link did not show, I cannot understand what the issue was.

I have know families that home school and I think their children were all well adjusted children with many friends from the various activities like the 4 H club that they join. One of my sons came home with a scholastic book about a boy who skipped the bus and rolled home in an old tire. I was appalled. Snakes and other things like to curl up in tires, I didn't want my son deciding to not take the bus. The whole thing was a dumb idea and an inappropriate book for him to have bought at school. This is minor compared to many things. This year my daughter read many books she got at the school library on vampires. I read them to see what she read and we discussed them. This is the issue, the school goes and does what it want and we wind up having to deal with their decisions of what is okay for the student.

My daughter was only allowed to watch video tapes I chose, until she was a certain age, I thought there were things she was just too young to deal with on tv.

You go Heather!!!
I agree with you on most of what you say.
My whole issue with public schools is all of the bad things that children learn.
Kids in kindergarden are laying on top of each other and humping. This is happening right in the classroom.
I don't mean all of them are doing it. But yes - it is happening.
Kids in 2nd and 3rd grades are being offered cigarettes on the play ground.
Kids are taking guns to school and shooting other kids and teachers.
Baggy pants are being worn with underwear showing. The dress codes are horrible.
Kids are using words in school that I didn't hear until I was in high school.

I sure hope the family wins!!!

I can not believe this! That is absolutely unbelievable. As parents, it's our jobs to educate our children as *we* see fit... What gives the government the right to decide that???
You're right Alta... And that kind of stuff was happening when I was in public school in the mid-80's!!! I can't believe the stuff my 3 older children come home from school and tell me about! (Unfortunately, homeschooling them is not an option, per joint custody orders and the fact that both of my ex-husbands are dead-set against homeschooling!)
Thoughts and prayers for that family!

The Court decided to day to order the kids to public school and said thier religious beliefs did not apply and they had no first amendment rights. The parents and other homeschoolers are appealing this because now California said all homeschoolers must now be enrolled in public schools. It was on tonights news.

I just read that the California Governor ( I cannot spell his name!) has sided with the parents and told the court to reverse this or the legislators will.
I hope he doesn't change his mind and really moves on that.

I don't understand how the courts could rule that way!! I'm sure it will be changed quickly.

Faith the California Govenor is Arnold Schwartzenegar the "I'll be back" guy LOL

I don't have any experience with homeschooling myself, nor do I know anyone who was ever homeschooled. I think as long as a kid's education and social interaction isn't neglected, a parent should be able to homeschool their child if they want to

There is a much better news story at this site:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeschool6mar06,0,7343621.story

Thanks Berf good article

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I live in Ca and this was all over our news last night.......not sure how I feel about it, to be honest.

That's just wrong. I do not believe the state should be able to do that. I do not homeschool my children but my mother does and I see nothing wrong with that. Parents should have the right to decided how and where their child go to school.

Why does this suprise so many people? It is just another one of our freedoms that the government is taking away.

We all had our chance to stop this but too many people were misled and/or did not care. We the People had our chance and that chance was personified it RON PAUL. How many of you complainers voted for him?

I am currently a homeschooler but previous to that I was a middle school teacher. I think the main issue at hand here affects all parents. It's called the removal of parental rights. Whether you homeschool or not it should be your decision and not the state making that dictate.

There is a petition in place at HSLDA

This is outrageous! The US has the hands down *worst* public schools in th developed world and the most ignorant general population. Look at home school stats--the home schooled kids are the best prepared academically and the best adjusted in colleges. That judge needs to be seriously slapped down.

First, this case was brought to court by 2 of the older children--parents were physically abusive and dad didn't want kids to go to school because of the "snitches" that the children would run to in the public education system--you know those snitches--teachers, administrators, law enforcement--who would then see what was going on in this "christian" home and take the kids away.

The court rulled on the only thing they felt safe to rule on--the schooling(which was how the case was worded) and not the welfare of the children to get them taken away from abusive parents.

Most districts haved some sort of testing set up for children that are homeschooled to gauge if they are at least at grade level. This was not happening with these 8 or 12 children who were not properly schooled, clothed, fed, etc.

Even if children are home schooled, there should be a base line that is tested to ensure the parents are actually educating them.

If someone wants to homeschool this should be their right

I'm a homeschooler and this is horrifying. I homeschool because I think the public schools are sadly lacking in what they are able to do with overcrowding and gov't restrictions. They are restricted in some areas and pathetically liberal in others. Now, add in the bad peer influences in my area and I can't imagine why I'd want my child to go to school to learn about sex, drugs, and violence before they even hit middle school.

Please take a few moments to read the petition on www.parentalrights.org. We need to protect parent's rights and it's in jeopardy more than ever before. I just posted an article on it if you want to go to my profile and see it.

Reading this makes me once again realize how lucky I was. The public schools here are good and if anything, gave my children a conservative slant. Neither of my children ever smoked and my son refuses to even taste alcohol. Both kids won national scholars awards, too.

I've known kids home schooled by parents who couldn't spell and didn't have much sense and just hoped the books pulled the kids through, but I've also known mothers who did such good jobs home schooling their children that I wished they could teach mine. So many things can become learning tools when viewed the right way.

Here's another story that I'm personally involved in. It's really outrageous. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91397. Visit my friend's blog and rally your friends to contact North Carolina legislators - www.HSinjustice.com

There's a new one in NH that I just posted about today... scary scary scary... As a homeschooler, I would be so upset to have a gov't telling me that my child had to go to public school. Especially because of where I live. If that happened, I'd have to move to a new state where there are better schools, that's for sure....