Homeschool.....should it be illegal

[Anonymous]

I homeschooled my kids in the early years and glad that I did. They came into school two grades above grade level in all content areas and eight years later are still ahead. Yes, my kids missed out on some socialization, which may explain their shyness, but at least they are not getting into drugs, sex and alcohol, like many of their peers! They also learned to work independently and not wait around for some teacher to spoon feed them. This will serve them well in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I homeschooled my kids in the early years and glad that I did. They came into school two grades above grade level in all content areas and eight years later are still ahead. Yes, my kids missed out on some socialization, which may explain their shyness, but at least they are not getting into drugs, sex and alcohol, like many of their peers! They also learned to work independently and not wait around for some teacher to spoon feed them. This will serve them well in college.

I was homeschooled and this was pretty much my experience as well.

[Anonymous]

Considering that most DCUM posters don't even know how to google basic information I would only be concerned if they were the ones homeschooling their kids.

[Anonymous]

Uh no. We homeschool because regular school get in the way of our travel amd seasonal migration patterns. Not because we want to chaim 1e kids in a basement.

[Anonymous]

My opinion... not illegal, but certainly more regulated.

I think the point of regular school is that everyone should have more than one authority figure. Kids should be allowed to learn to think critically about their parents and their parents' beliefs and of course vice versa. It's not good for there to be too much power/influence concentrated in either the private sphere or the state. (Not a new idea... Rawls argues this in Theory of Justice.)

[Anonymous]

Those people in California were not "homeschooling" their kids. They were abusing those children under the ruse of homeschooling them. Abuse is illegal. What they did is illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My opinion... not illegal, but certainly more regulated.

I think the point of regular school is that everyone should have more than one authority figure. Kids should be allowed to learn to think critically about their parents and their parents' beliefs and of course vice versa. It's not good for there to be too much power/influence concentrated in either the private sphere or the state. (Not a new idea... Rawls argues this in Theory of Justice.)

That's not the "point" of regular school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

Of course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & balances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

^Sorry for all the typos! Simultaneously typing of my phone & breastfeeding an infant when existing on only 5.5 total hours of sleep in the last 72 hours is apparently not in my (increasingly limited, it seems) skill set!

Thanks for sharing, I guess?

You're welcome, I guess?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

If course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & bskances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

Most states have reviews 2-4 times a year.

Do they drop by & check in on all homeschool families unannounced 2-4 times a year? I very much doubt it.

That’s definitely the case in CA where these kids were living for years and flying completely under the radar. But the WaPo noted the family was cited for having the weeds in their backyard grow too high. Priorities!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

If course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & bskances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

Most states have reviews 2-4 times a year.

Do they drop by & check in on all homeschool families unannounced 2-4 times a year? I very much doubt it.

That’s definitely the case in CA where these kids were living for years and flying completely under the radar. But the WaPo noted the family was cited for having the weeds in their backyard grow too high. Priorities!

There’s an LA times article on this issue. California is one of 15 states that doesn’t require home schoolers to do anything but register their name as a homeschool provider with the state. No follow-up required. Not one bit. No reporting of outcomes or checks on the students. The article made he point that if those kids were in school, teachers would have noticed their emanciated bodies and reported it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

If course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & bskances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

Most states have reviews 2-4 times a year.

Do they drop by & check in on all homeschool families unannounced 2-4 times a year? I very much doubt it.

That’s definitely the case in CA where these kids were living for years and flying completely under the radar. But the WaPo noted the family was cited for having the weeds in their backyard grow too high. Priorities!

There’s an LA times article on this issue. California is one of 15 states that doesn’t require home schoolers to do anything but register their name as a homeschool provider with the state. No follow-up required. Not one bit. No reporting of outcomes or checks on the students. The article made he point that if those kids were in school, teachers would have noticed their emanciated bodies and reported it.

As a former home-schooler, I do agree that there should be some checking in to make sure it's not a case of some abuser/sex trafficker/nutcase pretending to educate children. Maybe if the kids can check in by Skype to the local school district or the local police once a month, that could work. No matter how you slice it, it will add to the bureaucracy but maybe they could pay a required fee for the oversight.

[Anonymous]

If they wanted to lock up and torture their kids, they wouldn't have registered them at all. I've moved to a different state a few times and it would be pretty easy to just not tell anyone at the new place that you have kids at all. Some families already do this, it's called "homeschooling under the radar".

Increasing requirements aren't the answer. This guy had a good education and used to earn decent money in the IT industry. He wasn't just some bumpkin. His wife may be, but he was (is) sick.

The answer is changing our society so that people aren't so sick. Unfortunately with each year, it seems like we're getting sicker. More and more people getting diagnosed with all sorts of dysfunctions and diseases.

Slapping on bandaids ("services") isn't the answer either, although it would help in the meantime.

We need to get to the root cause. We need to eat better food, reduce our stress, reduce environmental toxins. Basically unwind a couple centuries and move forward again in a better way, a way where technology leads towards health of the population and better outcomes for all, rather than disease of the popular and better outcomes for only the top 1% (or less, really, since I think the top 1% in general is pretty sick too) who happen to own the pesticide companies, large scale farms, chemical companies, etc.

Sick people are always going to do sick things. Homeschooling has zero to do with it. If people would have noticed them not being fed then their parents would have found ways to abuse them in other more secretive ways (sexually, emotionally, etc).

We need to look at the big picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

If course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & bskances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

Most states have reviews 2-4 times a year.

Do they drop by & check in on all homeschool families unannounced 2-4 times a year? I very much doubt it.

That’s definitely the case in CA where these kids were living for years and flying completely under the radar. But the WaPo noted the family was cited for having the weeds in their backyard grow too high. Priorities!

There’s an LA times article on this issue. California is one of 15 states that doesn’t require home schoolers to do anything but register their name as a homeschool provider with the state. No follow-up required. Not one bit. No reporting of outcomes or checks on the students. The article made he point that if those kids were in school, teachers would have noticed their emanciated bodies and reported it.

As a former home-schooler, I do agree that there should be some checking in to make sure it's not a case of some abuser/sex trafficker/nutcase pretending to educate children. Maybe if the kids can check in by Skype to the local school district or the local police once a month, that could work. No matter how you slice it, it will add to the bureaucracy but maybe they could pay a required fee for the oversight.

Do you think someone who has a bowl haircut and keeps his kids chained up in the basement, some as old as 29yrs old is going to be sending these same kids to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t know how to put this gently but you sound like an idi*t. Should be ban school altogether? I know of many cases where children are abused in school? durrr.

If course this happens, too, but there are at least some checks & bskances in place at most schools that help minimize the chances of the abuse going undetected indefinitely.

Most states have reviews 2-4 times a year.

Do they drop by & check in on all homeschool families unannounced 2-4 times a year? I very much doubt it.

That’s definitely the case in CA where these kids were living for years and flying completely under the radar. But the WaPo noted the family was cited for having the weeds in their backyard grow too high. Priorities!

There’s an LA times article on this issue. California is one of 15 states that doesn’t require home schoolers to do anything but register their name as a homeschool provider with the state. No follow-up required. Not one bit. No reporting of outcomes or checks on the students. The article made he point that if those kids were in school, teachers would have noticed their emanciated bodies and reported it.

As a former home-schooler, I do agree that there should be some checking in to make sure it's not a case of some abuser/sex trafficker/nutcase pretending to educate children. Maybe if the kids can check in by Skype to the local school district or the local police once a month, that could work. No matter how you slice it, it will add to the bureaucracy but maybe they could pay a required fee for the oversight.

Do you think someone who has a bowl haircut and keeps his kids chained up in the basement, some as old as 29yrs old is going to be sending these same kids to school?

+1

A nutcase is a nutcase. Homeschooling has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is the story out of California about abuse and a few more local ones not as bad. Many cases I have seen of child neglect or abuse were homeschooling.without ongoing contact with the outside world people may not be aware of abuse. Should there be more regulation and cops or board of Ed checks? Should it be illegal.

Can students really be prepared for higher Ed or a career when many times schooled by a parent with no degree beyond high school.

Have you been following this case on websleuths as well? Lots of discussion on homeschooling there. To be honest, I've never known a "normal" family that homeschool. And I say that as someone with family who did it. However, weirdness aside, I do think homeschooling is a convenient excuse to keep kids home and away from mandatory reporters.