Impossible to quantify, but interesting to contemplate.

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Paradox

Do you believe home schooling is a viable option to educate our children? It seems, in the current era, most people find home schooling to be a legitimate sometimes preferable schooling option. Any stigmas attached to home schooling are slowly dissipating over time.

There are many success stories about parents who have creatively taught their children using a multitude of approaches. Society has legitimized this practice and often praised it as a more creative way to educate. Hold that thought.

On the other hand, traditional school is the more widely accepted method to educate our children. It is so accepted that the government has laid down many rules that we must follow to be in compliance. And, the government has no problem harassing us until compliance is met.

Some of the rules include a certain amount of attendance, strict guidelines over what is to be taught, how many hours in the day you must attend, dress codes, what ages must attend and so forth.

A parent can even be jailed for their child’s truancy.

A parent who contributes to a child's truancy from school can be charged with a misdemeanor. For the first offense parents can be fined $500 or jailed for 30 days. For the second and subsequent offenses, parents can be fined $1000 or 90 days in jail. to the parent or guardian.

Obviously, we as a society, hold the schooling experience in such regard that we are willing to jail people who do not comply.

On top of this, schools are compelled to bring children’s testing levels to a certain threshold in order to please the community and government in areas such as math, science, english, etc.

Now, let’s revisit the home schooling option.

 

Home School Requirements 

Requirements and regulations for home schoolers vary greatly from state-to-state, with most taking a decidedly hands-off approach to oversight.

A 2015 report by the Education Commission of the States analyzed state home-school laws. It found:

-Twenty states require some form of academic assessment;

-Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia mandate that home schoolers learn certain subjects;

-Twenty-three states plus D.C. have attendance requirements;

-Thirteen states plus D.C. require home-schooling parents or instructors to have certain qualifications—most require at minimum a high school diploma;

-Almost 40 states plus D.C. require parents to tell the state or their local school district if they plan to home school a child; and

-Twenty-six states allow home-schooled students to participate in extracurricular activities or attend their local district schools part-time.

Three states—Alaska, Idaho, and Michigan—put the fewest restrictions on home-schooling families, while three others—Washington, New York, and Pennsylvania—have the most regulations, according to the ECS report.

Do you still have the same feeling about home schooling or do these lack of requirements make you want to regulate it more so it is more in line with traditional school?

This is the bipolar nature of school. On one hand, the government is using a Nazi Germany approach to force us to follow the rules and comply with their agenda without question. On the other, we have a sixties hippy approach to home schooling. 

Is the message being sent that we will tolerate home schooling, but really find it invalid and a substandard way to get the job done?

It would be difficult to reach any other conclusion based on how stringent we are about traditional school and how lax we are about home schooling. Basically, half the states have essentially no rules or requirements regarding home schooling and the one’s that do are very little compared to traditional education.

-READ 6 COMMANDMENTS OF A BETTER SCHOOL HERE-

Short, 30 second reads, to help explain school

Why Teachers Can't be Ultimately Successful with the Current School Curriculum

The after school activity model is the perfect example of how school should be optional

The true value of a High School degree

Is drudgery necessary

Our feelings about home schooling are paradoxical

Is school a sacred institution or a resource

We are imposing unnecessary drudgery on ourselves

Our best society in our most independent society

The relevance of subjects we've studied for years

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