This will just take a moment of your time and it is critical – I do not say this lightly.

We homeschool in California. A few days ago, a California court ruled that homeschooling is illegal. I would appreciate it if as many people as possible would sign a petition to "depublish" this decision (to restrict the decision to the one family involved, and not apply it broadly to all homeschool families). This is important even if you don't live in California. Please click on the link below to sign the petition or get more info on this case. Please consider forwarding this information to those who would also be willing to support us.

To sign the petition, go to: https://www2.hslda.org/Registrations/DepublishingCaliforniaCourtDecision/

This will just take a moment of your time and it is critical – I do not say this lightly.

We homeschool in California. A few days ago, a California court ruled that homeschooling is illegal. I would appreciate it if as many people as possible would sign a petition to "depublish" this decision (to restrict the decision to the one family involved, and not apply it broadly to all homeschool families). This is important even if you don't live in California. Please click on the link below to sign the petition or get more info on this case. Please consider forwarding this information to those who would also be willing to support us.

To sign the petition, go to: https://www2.hslda.org/Registrations/DepublishingCaliforniaCourtDecision/

My DH and I just signed this, Gadgetlady. What a scary development and I hope it can be reversed. Please keep us updated!

My DH and I just signed this, Gadgetlady. What a scary development and I hope it can be reversed. Please keep us updated!

Thank you so much. Every signature will help. Even our (not conservative) governor has decried this decision! I've been watching the signatures pile up and earlier today it was being signed at the rate of one every two seconds. This could not only dramatically affect homeschooling in California, but in other states as well. It's unlikely it will hold up, but I'm not going to sit on my hands and watch it happen.

DH and I just both signed. We're in CA and are horrified by the decision by one judge who had a hissy fit. {Punishing all homeschooling families because of one set of horrid parents constitutes a hissy fit in my book.} I personally think he's got something against homeschooling in general. I just read about this in the paper yesterday. We have a toddler that we hope to put in alternative schooling and part of that would be a form of private and homeschool tutoring through at least the middle school years. We'll see about high school when we get to that point. How DARE some judge decide that I MUST put my kid in a traditional program!

What I think is interesting (and to me shows that the appeals court didn't realize what they were doing) is that the way the decision is written, this ruling invalidates the public school programs that have catered to homeschoolers (and thus brought education $ back to school districts) because the students enrolled aren't physically in those centers full-time. And many private schools would be illegal, too, since they don't always hire certificated teachers.

So in an effort to keep two children under dubious increased supervision of a public school (don't public school children suffer from undetected abuse?), the judges have potentially impacted the educational choices of hundreds of thousands of families. It's as if a public school teacher hit a child and a judge closed all the schools in the district/county/state to keep children away from the influence of potentially abusive teachers... Or put all infants/toddlers into daycare so parental abuse of a few could be better detected.

I think it's extremely unlikely this will be anything but a CA issue, and I don't think it will impact CA for long. Most other states have clearly delineated regulations that spell out how parents can comply with compulsory attendance laws while homeschooling their children. The US Supreme Court has ruled several times about the constitutionality of parental choice in education, inclusive of homeschooling. I think this is a blip.

This is a very difficult decision for everyone involved. For those parents who are well-educated and wonderful teachers to their kids this could not be worse news. There are many well-documented examples of home-schooled kids whose education far exceeded what they could have gotten in a public or private school. Unfortunately (and here's where I am conflicted), there are a great many parents who are not remotely qualified to be doing so. I attended a very small school in rural Michigan. I was horrified to find out that there are members of my class who are homeschooling their children. The horror came because these particular people were not good students by any means and avoided any class that would challenge them. While I counted them as my friends and respected them as such, they never felt that education was important while they were going through school and still have not attended any classes post-High School that would contributed to their overall knowledge.

For you parents who are out there without teaching credentials who are most likely as qualified as any person with teaching credentials to school children... can you please give me your view as to how states can enforce good education for children by eliminating parents who don't have any business teaching kids, yet not stop you from continuing to provide your own children quality education? I hope I'm not coming across as dense or obtuse, but it seems like it's a real dilemma from my perspective. I'm hoping that those of you have been or are currently homeschooling can enlighten me.

Thanks in advance for offering your views.

can you please give me your view as to how states can enforce good education for children by eliminating parents who don't have any business teaching kids

States can't even enforce good education in public schools! While you may think that to be sarcasm, I am quite serious. Our education system is a dismal failure. Even relatively uneducated parents can do wonderful things with a good whole curriculum and solid one-on-one tutoring time with their kids. On the whole, the success rate of homeschooled kids is head and shoulders above public -- and even private -- schooled kids.

I think it's extremely unlikely this will be anything but a CA issue, and I don't think it will impact CA for long. Most other states have clearly delineated regulations that spell out how parents can comply with compulsory attendance laws while homeschooling their children. The US Supreme Court has ruled several times about the constitutionality of parental choice in education, inclusive of homeschooling. I think this is a blip.

California's homeschooling laws are pretty clearly established, and this ruling just ignored all of them. It is so out of line it's ridiculous. But unfortunately, judges today don't care and do whatever they want to do, the law be damned. I'm hopeful the CA Supreme Court will overturn or depublish the decision, but it's not something anyone can be 100% sure of.

WestCoastFatGuy,

I KNOW both sides of the issue that you are conflicted about. We have decent public schools where I'm at, as well as several credited homeschooling groups. Our church has a very active preschool where children ages 3-5 attend for a few hours a day. We also have started a tutorial program affiliated with one of the local homeschools that goes to 3rd grade. The parents must get affidavits from the local school districts and the children come to tutoring 5 days a week, from 8:30-2:30. That is what I'm planning for my daughter. I love the idea of homeschooling BUT know that I'm not qualified by any means to teach her myself. A friend, also fellow church member, teaches children out of her home and has taught her 2 daughters since they started school. Her oldest is on a full-ride scholarship for UCLA. She has never stepped foot in a traditional school. I agree with Gadgetlady in that our public schools are a mess. Even in our little town, where people seem to care more and you know just about everyone at the school. I also know parents who should NOT be teaching their kids. I do know that if you are affiliated with the homeschools that I've mentioned above, the children must have placement testing at the beginning of each year and then testing trough-out the year and before school ends to make sure they are where they need to be and if not, what to do about it. There are stop-gaps if you are affiliated with a program. As far as those who aren't, I don't know. That's just what I know and what we have to do with our own students who attend the church school.

Hope I helped.

This is terrible! I'm signing it right now gadgetlady

husband and I just signed the petition too

hopefully you get enough to fix this problem

I do know that if you are affiliated with the homeschools that I've mentioned above, the children must have placement testing at the beginning of each year and then testing trough-out the year and before school ends to make sure they are where they need to be and if not, what to do about it. There are stop-gaps if you are affiliated with a program. As far as those who aren't, I don't know. That's just what I know and what we have to do with our own students who attend the church school.

Hope I helped.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply. The stop-gaps that you reference (like yearly placement testing) are a wonderful idea that clearly aid in ensuring quality home-based education.

GadgetLady may be able to advise otherwise, but I am not aware of any requirement in the State of California that includes such stop-gaps. Perhaps this would strike a good balance between homeschoolers and the State's interest in education.

Thank you. You guys are awesome. A distant family member just sent me these two scary quotes -- they gave me chills:

"Children must be conditioned through gradual indoctrination, to reject the thought processes transmitted by their parents and churches, so they may be prepared for the new world social order" --- John Dewey-Father of the American School System

"There can be no greater stretch of arbitrary power than is required to seize children from their parents, teach them whatever the authorities decree they shall be taught, and expropriate from the parents the funds to pay for the procedure." "...every politically controlled education system will inculcate the doctrine of state supremacy, sooner or later. ... A tax-supported compulsory educational system is the complete model of the totalitarian state." -- Isabel Patterson, The God of the Machine, 1943

GadgetLady may be able to advise otherwise, but I am not aware of any requirement in the State of California that includes such stop-gaps.

In California (and many other states), there are neither stop-gaps in homeschooling or in institutionalized schooling. Children can drop out / flunk out / flail through public school or graduate without knowing how to read. Homeschooled children in California and around the nation continue to do better on average than children in any instutionalized school.

In California (and many other states), there are neither stop-gaps in homeschooling or in institutionalized schooling. Children can drop out / flunk out / flail through public school or graduate without knowing how to read. Homeschooled children in California and around the nation continue to do better on average than children in any instutionalized school.

I have read many articles about homeschooled children doing better on average than in public or private schools. By now you know from my previous posts on other topics that I love to read research and always do so with a critical eye so as to derive whether the research is fair and accurate or slanted to one viewpoint or another. The area of homeschooling has been tough for me to find conclusive research findings other than simply being stated as such in various newspaper and magazine articles. I'm sure there must be compiled information from standardized tests (perhaps ACT or SAT or others) that I am just missing. Gadget, if you know of any resources for this could you please steer me in the right direction?

Thank you. You guys are awesome. A distant family member just sent me these two scary quotes -- they gave me chills:

"Children must be conditioned through gradual indoctrination, to reject the thought processes transmitted by their parents and churches, so they may be prepared for the new world social order" --- John Dewey-Father of the American School System

"There can be no greater stretch of arbitrary power than is required to seize children from their parents, teach them whatever the authorities decree they shall be taught, and expropriate from the parents the funds to pay for the procedure." "...every politically controlled education system will inculcate the doctrine of state supremacy, sooner or later. ... A tax-supported compulsory educational system is the complete model of the totalitarian state." -- Isabel Patterson, The God of the Machine, 1943

GadgetLady... The quote from John Dewey seems to be quite chilling. Do you happen to know from which of his works it is quoted? I have read this quote on the following websites:

Falling and rising [world net daily] (this site is especially near and dear to my heart because it was where I learned that I must have become gay from soy products (tongue firmly planted in cheek). Please see Soy is making kids 'gay'.

American Renaissance October 2001 [american renaissance] (a website founded by Jared Taylor that focuses on how race affects issues in the world today. He has numerous interviews and debates posted on this site with his views on race, focused mostly on anti-immigration).

John Dewey's philosophies are and have always been viewed by many with a squint and a tilt of the head; even among people who mostly agree with many of his views on society and education. As such, he was never able to achieve the integration of his views into the educational system as he would probably have liked. The quote that you list from him is one that I would like to view in context. I am unable to find any reference to which of his writings this quote appears. Both of the above websites use the quote but do not list the reference. Does anyone reading this happen to know where I could find it?

I'm one of the people who can sort of see where some of his views could be acceptable, while others just make me wince. This quote is certainly one of the 'wincers'. As for John Dewey being the Father of the American School system? Wow... that seems like a bit of stretch.

As for the Isabel Patterson quote... it doesn't give me chills. She was fervently anti-central goverment and her views are embraced by many who call themselves libertarians. From my view... just because she said it, doesn't make it correct... and I don't believe it is. I can say that George W. Bush and his cabinet have created a totalitarian state. Just because I say it, doesn't make it true. And, by definition of a totalitarian state... it isn't true.