This is truly scary (Fundies, home schooling, and politics):

[LSdemocrat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/education/08HOME.html?hp

"PURCELLVILLE, Va. — As one of 12 siblings taught at home by their parents in St. Croix Falls, Wis., Abram Olmstead knew he would fit right in at Patrick Henry College, the first college primarily for evangelical Christian home-schoolers. But what really sold him was the school's pipeline into conservative politics.

Of the nearly 100 interns working in the White House this semester, 7 are from the roughly 240 students enrolled in the four-year-old Patrick Henry College, in Purcellville. An eighth intern works for the president's re-election campaign. A former Patrick Henry intern now works on the paid staff of the president's top political adviser, Karl Rove. Over the last four years, 22 conservative members of Congress have employed one or more Patrick Henry interns in their offices or on their campaigns, according to the school's records."

<snip>

"The college's knack for political job placement testifies to the increasing influence that Christian home-schooling families are building within the conservative movement. Only about half a million families around the country home-school their children and only about two-thirds identify themselves as evangelical Christians, home-schooling advocates say. But they have passionate political views, a close-knit grass-roots network and the financial support of a handful of wealthy patrons. For all those reasons, home-schoolers have captured the attention of a wide swath of conservative politicians, many of whom are eager to hire Patrick Henry students."

<snip>

" "We are not home-schooling our kids just so they can read," Mr. Farris said. "The most common thing I hear is parents telling me they want their kids to be on the Supreme Court. And if we put enough kids in the farm system, some may get to the major leagues." "

[opihimoimoi]

1. Building a cadre of manipulators and controllors.

These guys are NOT for the BEST INTEREST for Americans...

They are in it for themselves. This is the best America can do?? I hardly think so.

[DrZhivago]

3. I met this girl who was home schooled and she didn't know

or ever heard of Malcolm X. She also though that there was a difference between rap and hip hop. "rap is nasty and hip hop is happy" is what she said "you're one dumb bitch" is what I said to her, and clarified that what she really meant was that rap is offensive to white people and hip hop is safe for sheltered white ears like hers. She was hitting on me the rest of the night and I kept turning her down because her intellect disgusted me (she was cute but dense)

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cleita]

36. I assume all of these interns and Capitol hill employees are white.

eom

[zonmoy]

49. Actually

they arent in it for themselves. they are in it to create a new theocracy.

[ochazuke]

2. I look forward to the day...

when we see these home-schooled kids all grown up and talking about how they escaped the cult-like atmosphere of their fundy homes...

... on the Phil Donahue show!!!

[earthsea wizard]

4. Seems to be a bias against homeschool, eh?

Thats just weird. I thought that liberals and progressives would welcome the opportunity to educate their children outside of the box, so to speak.

Just because some freepers homeschool doesn't mean that homeschool is loopy. Some freepers actually have sex as well. Not all of them, I know, but some of them do. Really! It doesn't make having sex loopy, unless you like to have sex with freepers, I guess. That's worse than loopy.

Freepers are a loopy lot, but they do engage in many non-loopy activities.

Don't pre-judge the home schooled, nor the home schoolers.

[LSdemocrat]

5. It's not the home schooling that bothers me

Its the whole chain that's dedicated to getting ultra-rightwing christian fundamentalists into political power.

[earthsea wizard]

6. Good, I agree

But I also see a method of planning for the future that the progressive should strive to duplicate.

Where we are now is due in part to long term planning from the right-wingers over a generation of time.

We should have planning on the same scale.

[LeighAnn]

7. Plenty of Lefties Homeschooling, too

This source needs to be tapped into by our own party. Tapped into, I said, not exploited like the "conservatives" are doing.

Thomas Edison's teacher was convinced he was "addled" so his outraged mom taught him at home.

If he had been forced into the educational system anyway (then or now) they would have drained all the genius and creativity out of him. Back then they would have beat him. Today they would drug him. Imagine a world without his inventions.

Homeschooling is good for all, I always thought.

[chicagostudent]

8. conservatives

Conservatives are mostly uneducated. Christians usually have the idea that "just because we ain't got no phd's or whatever don't mean we caint teach are kids." In order to teach a child, you need to have an education yourself. Somehow, Christians see a true education as harmful, so they dumb their children down at home.

I know a pair of siblings educated at home. They are intelligent but likely do not have the proper education in the liberal disciplines such as writing. Their parents are conservative christians.

I just don't understand. The entire philosophy of conservatism is somehow focused around the religion (christianity) that most seems to contradict it. I'm a christian, but I'm also educated. Conservatism seems to be full of hate, and selfishness. Jesus commands love and long suffering. Go figure.

[newyawker99]

28. Hi chicagostudent!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[belle]

21. It's the insulation that's the problem.

No, homeschooling in and of itself isn't maybe such a bad idea. But fundamentalists tend to do it less because they want to give their kids a "better education" than because they want to have even more control over what their kids are and aren't exposed to. If you're going to home-school, it should be because you want your kids to learn *more* about the world than what they can get at school, not less.

[JHB]

32. Resources for Liberal Home Educators

http://www.technomom.com/hs/ganaturalhs.html

[kath]

45. Thanks for that link!

It includes all of the resources that I would have linked, as a liberal home educator myself, plus many more. I've bookmarked it.

[southerngirlwriter]

57. I will be homeschooling.

School is so fucking corporate-ized. Standardized tests. Same outcomes. Treat every kid the same, no matter what their individual strengths and weaknesses are. Same goals. Learn to sit down, shut up, and conform.

Fuck that.

[gander2112]

16. Homeschoolers

I do not have a problem with homeschooling per se. It is just that the people I know of who do it, are really not intellectually deep enough to make it successful. (perhaps this should be a main topic).

What I mean s that they do not have the breadth of knowledge (math/science, humanities, language etc) to really parallel what can be achieved at a quality learning institution.

Thus the majority of the population views homeschooling as an extremist endeavor.

I do know some people who do HS mainly to keep their kids out of the war zone that public schools have become. However, between the amount of time they spend, and money, they would be far better served by looking into private schools. My nieces go to a fantastic private school and are doing great there. The academics are top notch, and they are being well prepared for future life.

However, in this case, it sounds like a class of home school advocates are trying to load the deck for a future power struggle. Not a noble cause in my eyes.

Geoff

[newyawker99]

29. Hi gander2112!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Zero Gravitas]

22. I've got nothing against home schooling

but it seems like a large percentage of people who home school their children do so to "protect" the kids from such dangerous ideas as racial equality, science, secularism etc. Most of the home schoolers I've come across do it so the sort of things kids learn in regular schools won't conflict with whatever religious fundamentalism the parents want to teach.

[zonmoy]

51. That is the main reason

that the homeschoolers in my family do it.

[NashVegas]

60. I Don't Have Kids - But If I Did

I would look seriously into home-schooling for the following reasons:

1. To get them out of a competitive learning environment. That's just stress-inducing.

2. To have them spend more time learning core subjects and not waste time in "self-esteem" building excersizes/classes.

3. Field trips up the ying-yang - museums, nature walks, pool halls, you name it. Anything to show them how the subjects they're learning have applications in the outside world.

[earthsea wizard]

62. Crisco, you nailed it!

These are amongthe top reasons why we home-school.

That, and I seriously just love to spend time with my kids. All too soon they will grow up and move out, moving on to lives of their own. But right now, they are among the coolest people I know, and I want to hang out with them. More than just parents, my wife and I are our children's friends.

They'll out grow us soon enough. No need to rush them, nor try to hold them back, either, that's not my point. I love being involved in their learning processes, and watching their faces light up as they discover things.

This stage of their life passes all too quickly. I wouldn't miss it for the entire world. It's not why I had my first child, but it is why I had my second and third.

[thingfish]

39. Nobody ever flunked out of homeschool.

Fuck homeschool.

[BigEdMustapha]

42. Thanks thingfish

What a wonderfully intelligent and thoughtful comment - would you care to expound upon your theory?

[thingfish]

43. No, I think I pretty much covered it.

x

[earthsea wizard]

53. Apparently you've told us everything on your mind

At least it didn't take long.

[Trillo]

56. Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance

Sorry for the highjack--perhaps I can expand on his thingfish's idea:

The power to expel is the ultimate "zero-tolerance" tool that is and has been used for discriminative purposes.

I don't share thingfish's outlook that "zero tolerance" is a good thing to teach children, rather it's the opposite, but everyone has their opinion.

The danger of ZERO TOLERANCE isn't with sole respect towards drugs, violence, or any other things that it was sold to people over, rather, the effect is more basic and insidious.

Do you want to teach all children, not just the ones expelled, Zero Tolerance? Today, the apparent answer is Yes, without a doubt.

Isn't it better to teach ALL children Tolerance?

[NashVegas]

61. Actually, That's a Good Argument *for* Home School

If the kid's failing in a certain area, you go back to work on it, no big deal, no ritual and humiliation of flunking.

[amazona]

44. home-schooling a very effective way to keep women at home

...and out of power. It isn't really out of the box. It puts the woman in a box. One of my relatives must home-school because they live in a non-English speaking country. Fine. But she spends many hours a day pursuing her teaching credentials, as well as teaching the child. It is a full-time job, especially as the child's talents lie in a technical area (math and science) and her credentials are in the liberal arts. She pretty much had to get a third college education by correspondence, and it still continues. I don't seriously believe that freepers, who are ignorance personified, are willing to do this.

That said, there are times when home-schooling may be necessary and you pull up your socks and do what needs to be done. But in the case of this particular article, it seems like home-schooling is a way to avoid perfectly good public systems so that religious and racist hysterics can keep their kids ignorant. It also keeps the little woman busy and unable to pursue a career, that is, if she is really teaching the kid anything. The assumption that a child can be educated in a couple hours of one's spare time, well, you'll have to forgive those of us who'll retain our skepticism on how well that's going to work. I've seen too many people withdraw their kids out of the public schools because of race hatred to be real impressed about the motives of many home schoolers. Folks *here on DU* may be wonderful, caring parents who just happen to also be credentialed teachers qualified to educate their kids in every subject at every grade level but let's be honest...the kind of people who think Patrick Henry was a fine evangelical Christian are delusional and certainly not qualified to teach anything much beyond their own race-hatred. I think we can criticize home-schooling when it is used to indoctrinate children into hate and wingnut ideology.

As far as being a liberating option, home-schooling is anything but liberating if you are doing it right and taking care not to limit your child's future. It may be the most rewarding thing you ever do, but forget about having any free time to yourself for about 12 years or so!

[earthsea wizard]

52. I disagree

On many different levels.

One, what freepers do with their home school experience should not be the measure by which home schooling is judged. Period.

Two, I feel sad that you think homeschooling is often about keeping women at home. It isn't, its about learning in a family situation surrounded by people who love you and care about you as a person.

I and my wife share homeschooling responsibilities, and our kids are bright, friendly, and respectful. They read well, write well, and are math happy! Yep, they actually like math, go figure. My wife is actually out of the house more than I am, as we both are students, she works part time outside of the house and I'm trying to start a business inside of the house.

Three, you don't have to be a certified teacher to teach your children. You just have to know your strengths and weaknesses, and pull resources from a variety of areas. Neither of us have teaching credentials, but are kids are at, or ahead of the public school norm in all standard tests. They aren't geniuses, but that's not why we home school.

Finally, home schooling is liberating. I regularly take my kids to museums and other exhibits, on field trips, and to places where they get treated to events, people, and information that would never be accessible to them in a public school setting. Most relevant to this discussion, not a trip goes by where I don't learn something myself, and where I don't grow closer to my children because we are building a vast history of shared experiences. To me, that is extremely liberating.

[kath]

55. Umm, hello, some dads stay home and do most of the homeschooling

What on earth makes you think that it's always the mom in the home?! A friend, who used to be a teacher and whose wife is an engineer, got so fed up with all the bullshit in the schools that he is staying home to home educate their son. Often both parents juggle work and educating their children, as in earthsea wizard's *excellent* post

Many families of teachers and ex-teachers are homeschoolers. They've seen institutional schooling up close and personal and want no part of it for their kids. David Guterson, before he made big bucks with his books, taught high school while his wife homeschooled their boys (and he wrote a good book about homeschooling).

[Fla Dem]

58. Never doubted freepers had sex

They just don't admit to it and act like everyone else is amoral. I always felt that people who protest the loudest have the most to hide.

[earthsea wizard]

63. I should not have brought up freeper sexuality

There are certain things that just shouldn't be discussed :)

[SoCalDem]

9. One word..

Madrassa

[depakid]

11. My thoughts exactly

This really is a scary story- I can't believe I've never heard anything about this before.

[tkmorris]

12. Please don't kneejerk

I homeschool 3 girls and a happier little group of Leftists you will never meet. Not EVERYONE who homeschools is some sort of religious nutball.

Oh and by the way, to the guy above. There IS a difference between Rap and Hip-hop. I couldn't care less; I don't listen to either much, but there is a difference. My educated children know that. Too bad you don't. They can also do 5 digit long division in their head and recite the periodic chart, US presidents, Nobel peace prize winners, the biography of MLK and Malcolm X, and furthermore explain the difference between all 9 potential Democratic nominees platforms.

They also hate commercials and don't wear make-up. I love these girls, truly I do.

[kayell]

13. I dreamed of homeschooling my daughter

but couldn't do it financially. I did a lot of reading of John Holt and other homeschooling or unschooling advocates. There are lots of liberals who homeschool. The big difference that I have seen between fundie and liberal homeschoolers is that the fundies want to limit the information their kids have access to, while the liberals want to broaden and deepen the amount of information and experiences their children would have over what public schools provide.

[kath]

23. Yes, we homeschool so our kids will be exposed to MORE ideas

and experiences, not less (among other reasons). Some do it to limit their kids' exposure -- "fear of sex and Darwin", as I saw it expressed once :-) But this is certainly not true of all homeschoolers -- there are plenty of liberals doing it these days.

[kath]

26. kayell, there are ways to homeschool on a limited budget or

single parent, crazy work schedule, etc. Try reading Home Education Magazine for ideas if you're still interested; there is also lots of good info on the Web -- e-mail discussion groups, etc.

John Holt rocks! His books are what got us started homeschooling. I didn't want to see curiousity and the love of learning squished out of my kids, as all too often happens in school (made much worse recently of course, with all the testing mania).

[kayell]

34. Well, its not an issue for me anymore, my daughter is 25

She has solved the education problem by having my granddaughter at the montessori school where she is a teacher.

[WoodrowFan]

18. Not Knee-jerking in this case

Patrick Henry is not to far from where I live. It is intended for kids who were home-schooled by RW Christian parents. A Washington Post reporter did a poll of students there and found every single student identified themselves as either a) republican or 2) independent conservative. No Democrats, no liberals. It was founded by Michael Ferris, a rw christian kook who once tried to help parents ban the Wizard of OZ from a school library because it "promoted witchcraft." The intended mission of the colelge, openly stated, is to train future Christian conservative politicans.

[eissa]

25. That's the difference between left and right

It couldn't be more clear. Whereas you and other liberals who homeschool children focus on intellectual development, the right does it for moral/political reasons. A fundie lady I know homeschools her children because she doesn't want them to be "morally corrupted in the public school system." Although I know she covers the basics, a lot of the curriculum revolves around Jesus.

[LSdemocrat]

27. Once again, I'm not against home schooling

I'm scared by the right-wing's systematic attempt to train and groom their children with the expess intent to take over the government and turn this country into a christian fundamentalist state.

[Florida_Geek]

14. Not all Homeschoolers are Christian

The first homeschooler that comes to my mind is Pagan. :)

I did not know they had pagan summer camps.

[BigEdMustapha]

20. Re: Not all Homeschoolers are Christian

And not all Christians who homeschool are fundies. Nor are they all looking to brainwash their kids into Republican robots. My wife and I use the "Sonlight" curriculum which although it contains Christian beliefs, strives to provide a balanced education. They describe the curriculum on their website as:

"a curriculum that presents many points of view; i.e., that isn't afraid to ask the kinds of questions and presents viewpoints that people of color, people outside the United States, and/or non-Christians might have and raise."

"a curriculum that focuses not just on Western culture, but is global in nature and contains open discussion on the history of issues of concern to all the major peoples and cultures on Earth."

"an internationally-focused, literature-based homeschool curriculum"

I look forward to my children growing up as free thinking people - and not as fundie robots full of intolerance and hate.

[newyawker99]

30. Hi BigEdMustapha!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Malva Zebrina]

15. RJ Rushdooney founded the home school movement

and what you have posted is indeed very very scary. It has me trembling

DU'ers should educate themself now, more completely, into this Domininism theology. I have been following it for several years but never has it scared me as much as today. I saw Paul Weyrich rcently on C-Span--very polished, very well spoken--he was trying to push his new organisation, (can't remember the name) that he claimed was bi-partisan (several times which made me suspicioua) and wanted to oversee the presidential debates because many people feel the debates are not meeting the needs of the American people. Be very afraid of this man, also.

This article by Mary McCarthy is a very good one.

" A little known fact: R. J Rushdoony, aside from being the founder of Christian Reconstruction, is also the founder of the modern home schooling movement. Most people who deride the Reconstructionist movement for being 'too political' don't realize that."

<snip>


Many of the leaders of the so-called hard or Christian Right are followers of the teachings of Rousas John Rushdoony. R.J. Rushdoony is the spiritual leader of Chalcedon Foundation, a California organization dedicated to Christian Reconstruction. According to the Foundation, a Christian Reconstructionist is a Calvinist, holding to the principles that God, not man, is the center of the universe and beyond; a Theonomist, believing that God's law is found in the Bible; a Presuppositionalist, believing that he holds to the Faith because the Bible says so and has no need to prove it; a Postmillennialist believing that Christ will return to earth only after the Holy Spirit has empowered the church to advance Christ's kingdom in time and history and a Dominionist taking seriously the Bible's commandment to the godly to take dominion in the earth. "The Christian Reconstructionist believes the earth and all it's fullness is the Lord's; that every area dominated by sin must be 'reconstructed' in terms of the Bible. This includes, first, the individual; second, the family; third, the church; and fourth, the wider society including the state."

The Dominion theology movement places Judeo-Christian biblical law above any and all constitutional law, including the U.S. Constitution. "Postmillienialists believe that righteous human beings, essentially servants of Christ, must achieve positions of influence in societies in order to prepare the world for the Messiah's return."

more at :

http://www.politicalamazon.com/fcf-homeschooling.html

Google RJ Rushdoony for a more complete background of the Reconstructionist movement and the Calcedon Institute. Rushdoony did found the modern home school movement but that is not saying that all those who homeschool are Reconstructionists, but it did begin with these Christians.

[Florida_Geek]

17. Note from FlorDuh

In Florida, homeschool children HAVE to take state exams, but private school children do not.

[Malva Zebrina]

19. that is a good idea, , and I have nothing to say

about the wisdom of home schooling and do not wish to get into a tussle over it. I do not like the idea, though, that tax payer money would go to those who choose to home school over the system now. But to me that is another subject for another time because I wanted to address Rushdoony and the Chalcedon Institute.

I thought the thread was about the extremist Christians and the fact that many who are home schooled that attend that college are being jetted into government to hang out with our legislators.

I thought mentioning Rushdoony may be helpful to some DU'ers who do not know a thing about him. I have been following RR extremeists, literalists for a fairly long time.

I am not arguing the pros and cons of home schooling, Christian, Protestant homes schooling who gets tested etc. but Rushdoony did start the modern homeschool movement and if you read up you will find the reasons why.

This movement is insidious. Many in Bush's government are suspected of being Reconstructionists--Ashcroft has been named. They operate in stealth, not wanting to be openly connected to Reconstructionism or Dominionism, so it is difficult to identify those who follow that theology. I once thought it a little far out that men could actually have this kind of motivation for the government of the US--now I no longer think so. There are fascists running our government--they are not men of a spiritual bent, but are involved in right wing mysticism and extremeist cults. I am not even going to pop in the smiley with the tin foil hat here.

I am sorry if I did not explain my first post clearly

[kath]

24. Thanks for linking the Mary McCarthy article --

I was thinking of doing it myself, but you beat me to it. Mary is dynamite. She's very knowledgable, and quite active on the liberal or inclusive homeschool email groups. She's always good at countering the fundie bullshit.

It really is important for people to educate themselves about the Reconstructionist/Dominionism movement -- very scary shit. W and Jebby have close ties to these folks.

(Mari333, of course this also ties in to the "Cities of Character"/"Character First" stuff that you were concerned about over the weekend.)

Some good books to counter the Religious Right bullshit in general are "The Godless Constitution" and "Why the Religious Right is Wrong About Separation of Church and State"

[bobbieinok]

46. I thought home-schooling as a modern US movement started with the 60s

counter-culture movement

[earthsea wizard]

54. And A Seventh Day Adventist Created Modern Breakfast Cereals

That doesn't mean that by having or purchasing breakfast cereal you show active or passive support for that religion, or vegetarianism (the reason the cereal was invented), or anything else.

Just like homeschooling does not mean that you support the people that began the modern homeschooling movement, or any social, political, religious, economic, or otherwise interested group.

Homeschooling is not scary. It's just homeschooling.

[Killarney]

31. This really frightens me.

[American Renaissance]

33. Is this an accredited institution?

...didn't think so?

Ofcourse, they will say they are unaccredited by choice, so jewish liberal elitists can't control their program, but that is Horse Shit, because there are several evengelical Christian schools that are accredited. Such as Wheaton, which if you look past all the fundie bullshit is actually a pretty good school.

schools like Bob Jones University that are unaccredited, are so because they don't meet the academic requirements, but the suckers who send their poor bastards their actually buy their shit about their unaccredited status being a good thing.

Oh well, just another school to add to the HR blacklist.

[recidivist]

35. Don't forget the proverbial 800 pound gorilla ....

While people are choosing up sides, it's important not to overlook the proverbial 800 pound gorilla in the corner. In recent years, a very clear K-12 academic pecking order has emerged. At least with regard to standardized testing, homeschooled kids score the highest: just about always, at all grade levels, in all subjects, and anyone who refuses to acknowledge it is not interested in an honest discussion. Private/parochial school kids come in second. Public school kids bring up the rear.

Yes, those are averages. There are examples of mediocrity and excellence in all categories. And standardized tests aren't the only relevant consideration. But still ....

The question that one must treat seriously is whether the superior results posted by homeschoolers are the result of self-selection, the instructional format, or both. My money is on both, and among the facts we should acknowledge is that parents who choose to homeschool are, on average, better educated than the general public. Whether they are better educated than the local teaching corps is another question, but frequently they are.

This brings me to a broader point: one consequence of mass literacy and widespread higher education is a devaluation in status of the "learned professions." Once upon a time, for example, preachers got away with thundering from the pulpit because -- in a farming society -- the local preacher was typically one of the best educated people around. That's no longer the case in very many places. In many middle class congregations, most of the folks in the pews are at least as well as or better educated than the minister. That doesn't mean they are more knowledgeable about theology or church history or the interpersonal techniques of pastoring -- the minister, one can hope, will still be better trained in his field -- but it does mean that the laity can't simply be harangued because Preacher Bob has a degree and you don't, so there.

Teachers today face the same dynamic. As recently as two generations ago, a schoolteacher with a college degree had an edge on most parents. Today, in many, many places, that's no longer the case. In my daughter's school, for example, the teachers (nice people, all of them, and mostly reputed to be OK in the classroom) are dramatically less academically credentialed than the parents. This is now commonplace. That doesn't mean the average parent is equipped with the appropriate temperament or technique to step into the classroom, but it does mean that parents can't simply be dictated to. "Teacher knows best" doesn't get quite the same mileage it used to.

The bottom line is that parents who KNOW their educational credentials exceed those of the local teachers probably feel reasonably well equipped to at least give homeschooling a try if they don't like the goings-on down at PS 112. And many of them will prove to be fine instructors -- remember, any well educated person has spent a LOT of years in classrooms and has at least a glimmer of a notion of how it's done. This ain't a closely held secret we're talkin' 'bout here.

Lawyers and doctors are not entirely immune from this, BTW, although the licensure system still gives them a highly protected status. This too may change in time; an awfully lot of routine legal work can be handled by paralegals or even informed laymen, and nurse practitioners probably should have expanded roles. But that's another story.

[Bridget Burke]

37. Where's a good site to review the test results?

Sounds interesting.

[recidivist]

38. I don't know.

The stats pop up very regularly but I'd have to google it to find a citation. Don't have the time at the moment.

The folks who want to dodge the issue usually argue that superior homeschooling results are the product of self selection. This, I am sure, is partially true, but that is a quite damning admission: it means that it is precisely the most knowledgeable and academically committed parents who are desperate to opt out.

Or they criticize standardized testing in general.

Or they argue that socialization is more important than academics. (Homeschooling parents will often agree with this, albeit with the twist that it is precisely the negative socialization of so many public schools that they are fleeing.)

The bottom line is that homeschoolers, a very mixed bunch, are doing something right. Going that route requires a major commitment of time and sacrifice of outside income. It is usually done by reasonably well educated and highly committed parents. People don't do it casually, and folks who struggle with it can always save themselves the headache by returning to the public schools. It's not surprising that those who stick with it produce comparatively favorable results.

[NashVegas]

59. I Believe There Are Many Factors

Let's start with the idea that home-schooled children are much more likely to come from a two parent home; unless said parents are extreme whack-jobs in the fundie department, this translates into a more stable home learning environment than 1/2 of the kids in any public/private school. And as has been said repeatedly, parental involvement is the #1 determining factor in how well a kid is going to do in school.

Home-schooled kids are in non-competitive environments, scholastically and socially (cliques, Darwin) while they're trying to learn. If they mess up, no one's going to go out of their way to embarrass them in front of 15-25 other kids. MAJOR confidence/esteem boost right there.

Nice teacher: student ratio, no?

Teacher is someone the student is more inclined to want to please in the first place, and someone who's intimately acquainted with what pushes the student's buttons.

[BigEdMustapha]

41. Test results

Lots of good data here despite being from the Home School Legal Defense Foundation (HSLDA)

http://www.hslda.org/research/default.asp

[Bridget Burke]

47. Are there any results from a neutral source?

Just asking.

[Malva Zebrina]

50. Home scholling test resutlts

great--but take my money out of it.

as a Senior citizen who needs every bit of it, and has no children or grandchildren in the public school system, then count me out of financing your children's home schooling when I know not a thing about what y ou are doing with my money

. I will refuse to fund it--that would be better spent on my medications or my food even than giving it to parents whose children cannot make it in the public school system.

Why should it be given to parents who believe their little geniuses are not being given their due in the public school, system?

Give ME a voucher.! I will not pay for home schooling, no way, no how. Send me to jail.

[earthsea wizard]

64. Can I Get A Voucher for Home-schooling?

Really?

I always thought the argument went in reverse. Local taxes fund local schools. I get no exmption because I home-school, nor would I ask for one. MY money goes to the public schools, even though I don't participate.

Now you say don't let YOUR money go to home-schoolers?

Have I been missing the voucher gravy train? ;)

[DesignGirl]

65. Also a Farris Group

The HSLDA is another group started by Farris. They are involved in many policy making activities involving home school, but also other conservative policies(abortion and gay rights).

It is very offensive to me when these groups are out in the public and most people think they represent the all home schoolers.

[thingfish]

40. Home School should be what you do after School School.

An addition, not a substitute.

[Malva Zebrina]

48. I have a teacher friend that does exactly that.