Someone posted a very good article on this topic on The Northwest Voice web site.  If you are interested, here is the link:

Keep homeschooling legal

 Marylee,

You cite the example of Assemblyman Joel Anderson's daughter, Mary, being accepted into the Air Force Academy as proof that home schooling adequately provides the social skills necessary to succeed in life.  Many applicants enter the Air Force Academy as political appointments.  Could it be that the Assemblyman called in a favor and had a political crony appoint his daughter?  I don't mean to detract from his daughter's acomplishments, but while it sounds good to say a home schooled student entered the Air Force Academy, more information is needed before an association between home schooling and entering the Air Force Academy can be derived.

anti~ I agree completely~ if a parent wants to teach~lets use creationism say ;-)~ then teach away...but also teach the test,so they can answer the questions..oh and get a balanced education. Why I want home school is really for case's like mine or my friends...sometimes home schooling is the right answer to spending 5 1/2 hours a day in pain on a bus.

 Wow John, that would mean he asked over a 100 times a day!  I don't even think Wilt Chamberlain had that much access to the ladies. LOL

*edit* JBS I'm guessing you'd know all about that.... in case you do not realize,it is the number of dead from the war.

 Thanx Sage. I have nothing against home schooling and some of the best educated people I know don't even have an A.A.

I know people with Phds who couldn't teach a dog to lick himself, and people with an 8th grade education who are fantastic communicators with youth.

But..... if people are going to home school, there HAS to be some way of verifying progress.

3990

That's the number of times women turned you down for sex in 2007. They say Viagra can help with your fallen member...

 3990.

There is,to my knowledge. In my case,things were a bit different anti:nobody was going to get the boy to hold a pencil,much less take a test,or set "benchmarks" . But in my friends case,there were test's to be taken ,she had to show a lesson plan,work done,etc.

 Sooooooo......... anybody know what the current policy is on how we know home school kids are getting a good education???

Periodic testing? Marilee?

The reason I ask is simple. What if I want my kids to help me in my distribution (crack)  business, and I just tell the state they are being home schooled? There must be some kind of mechanism in place to keep that extreme example from occuring.

Anyone? Bueller?? Bueller?

Thought so myself a few days ago and said so,I caught a spot where the highly educated half spoke as the uneducated half.Now after the Sam speech the other day I begin to wonder.... the day i stalk my own post's under a non de plume,is the day i quit posting.I still love "someone", just not clear who

 we still luvs ya Lunkat...................

We are home schooling right now. We have children that came into our home as foster kids and now we have guardianship of them.

Last year we took a failing 5th grader and raised her into the B averages in her 6th grade year. We were so happy with the results when se returned to regular school this year we decided to keep her brother home and get him caught up. These kids come to us emoitonally scarred and behind in their schooling. Just sending them to school without close guidance has proven to be a receipe for failure in the past.

We tried to get them caught up in regular school but the teachers whine about not having the time due to their wok load etc etc..HOGWASH..the majority have become hardened and just want a paycheck.. They will pass the kids and the problems on to the next grade level in a blink of an eye.

 I've got no particular problem with teachers being credentialed.

The salient point seems ta me however, is credentialed by whom and in what?

If those handing out said credentials are just agenda driven  "mavens of new age progressivism" without regard to real history (which they feel empowered by the current state of affairs to engage in) then just what does that  "credential" mean?

I've seen more good ol' common sense outa some old cowboys or sojers in battle than any a them will ever flash on their best days.......

 If credentialed teachers are required to home school, does this mean credentialed teachers must also teach private schools? As adampayne pointed out, the issue is compliance not the child's source of learning. As to home schooled children being brighter or better educated, I've seen enough exceptions to make the assertion almost meaningless.

 I wasn't gonna say anything

but since you did...............

(I was gonna warn 'im ta change 'is handle)

Gee Kat, you sound just like Lunk.

Unfortunately, Chico, most conservative public school teachers that make headlines are the ones who are All Messed Up On The Lord, and not those who are in the mold of a Lou Dobbs or Bill O'Reilly (Sean Hannity injects God into too many subjects, so I don't watch him like I used to). O'Reilly taught in the public schools, but more than likely kept his religious views to himself. I don't remember any religious controversies in Jr. High or High School; there were people who didn't like Nixon, but that's a bit different. 

In college, there were leftist professors and a few rightist profs, but the only mention of "God" was in my anthropology class, when Dr. Bouscaren, a former Jesuit priest, answed a question from a student about his ideas on creationism. His reply was "preposterous." He didn't like the right-wing stuff I wrote for the school paper, but then you can't please everybody.

 As usual, Right Thinking gets the decision wrong from the court. The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Three did not say you could not home school your children. The Court ruled that children being instructed at home needed a credentialed teacher to comply with California law.  Here is the link to the actual decision.

"By all means, let’s forget about our already overworked teachers, our crowded classrooms. Let’s shrug off all we learned about the benefits of small student-teacher ratios and cram ’em on in.

But that’s not the real issue either. At issue here is parental choice in education and a government attack on that right."

This ruling affirms that parents have every right to home school their kids. However, parents are not entitled to home school children without licensed educational qualifications certified by the State of California. So what parental choices in education are being attacked here? The choices to teach kids that evolution is just another loony liberal conspiracy theory? That the world was created exactly as described in Genesis?

I would think that all those pink slipped teachers might have some job openings in all these homes where parents have simply decided schools are just too tough for their kids.

Your veiled protest here is strictly about the actual curriculum that home schooled kids will be taught.

 JBS, there are a lot of selfish people on the non-home schoolers side as well. You don't think the NEA and CA Teachers Assoc have vested interests in ensuring that home schoolers never really get a  "toe-hold" in the  "system"?

I notice all the time on these blogs the socialistic thinking of our youth and I know where most of it comes from. It comes from the Left-leaning bulk of those teaching our kids. The Left knows that if it gets to the kids, the veritable  "Tabula Rasa's" that eventually the country will swing to the Left. That is their thinking at any rate and it seems to be working from my reading of many of the younger bloggers on here.

If I read one more op-ed telling California’s home school parents to calm down and chill out, I may throw up.

A veritable multitude of readers have a similar response when they see that god-awful photo you post with your Jesus-felching drivel. Don't you have an ounce of self respect? Your lame attempt at responding to airqualityguy's post never got off the ground.

Parents who homeschool their children are often selfish individuals who are less than qualified to teach at a proper educational level. The Christian nuts do this to shield their children from things like logic and common sense, that are, in their paranoid minds, contrary to the Bible's teachings. They choose religious "excellence" over academic excellence, and in doing so restrict their kids from interacting with those who have different points of view. In a country where two-thirds of the population names public speaking as their biggest fear, why would these parents want to risk aggravating what will already be an extremely anxious experience for the child once he or she reaches adulthood and ventures out from inside the protective bubble?

You mention "public outrage" at the court ruling. From who? Homeschool parents? The U.S. Constituiton guarantees protection of the minority from the tyranny of the majority, but not when that majority is right.

There are columnists who have a talent for getting their point across, and there are columists who are somewhat deficient in that area. Have you ever wondered why someone like Mona Charen has a nationally syndicated column, and you're in Bakersfield? I haven't.

 Marilee, I plead ignorance on the issue, but what guarantee is there that home school kids are getting a proper education? Is there some kind of testing the children must pass to make sure this occurs?

 Sage, sorry about your son. Jagels is a mean guy. I also have a liberal friend who started homeschooling her daughter. One reason why she decided to homeschool her daughter was because she was sick of the amount of time devoted to standardized testing. I believe the CTA provides more benefits to the public and its members than negative, but if they feel so strongly that teachers must be credentialed than they should push for firing teachers who aren't credentialed.  Many math and science teachers don't bother getting a credential. Schools shouldn't allow these people to acquire tenure, because it's not fair to other teachers and  who followed every requirement and the students because the CTA strongly promotes credentialed teachers.  Homeschooling can provide numerous benefits. Public schools can not beat the low student ratio that  homeschooling provides. I received a great education from public schools, but there were classes that I was placed in that were a waste of time--typing with old typewriters in the middle 90s, studyhall because all the other classes were full, and a boring and repetive craft class.

I had a friend, a very liberal non religious type,pot smoking,short haired etc who home schooled.Her kids did very well,and when they did go to public school were at or above their grade levels .When my son,who had huge amounts of pain after his operation,began to dread the 5 1/2 hour bus ride everyday to attend school(especially in our cold winters and very hot summers),I kept him home a lot. Apparently too much according to Mr. Jagels who threatened me with jail. My Liberal self called the teacher and began to start the process for home schooling. A teacher would come spend one hour a week with my child.Unfortunately he(my son) died.

Home schooling is not always for the "fringe" group,though I would suggest it be very carefully monitored.

Are you trying to insult my pinko, fornicating, pot smoking, long-haired friends?

This issue will be sorted out by the courts over the next five years.  Meanwhile, home schooling will wax and wane among a small minority of people.  Go ahead and get upset.  We choose our battles.

 AirQ, your I-don't-have-an-intelligent-argument-for-this-iss ue-so-I'll-settle-for-the-personal-insult response is typical of many I get from liberals who aren't up on or don't care about important topics like a court-mandates against homeschooling. Sad, but you've got a lot of company.

 This sounds like some more of that common sense that's been going around. I feel bad for the poor Amish that don't have the blessings of His Majesty's re-education centers and Guidanceship. Ever been to Juvenile court? A child is considered a "ward of the State". You don't have responsibility of your kids, they do. And judging by the Socialists and Communists on this site is it any surprise?

 Merrylee,

If criticism of your views makes you want to throw up so bad, maybe you should quit writing.  I think it's bad for your health.