Homeschoolers who live in states where regulations were increased did worse in standardized tests than they did previously without the regulations. Typical of governments that legislate without considering the consequences, increasing regulations on homeschool families will likely lead to false allegations with overzealous bureaucrats sure to follow. Especially considering that public schools are unable to comply with their own rules, why exactly should anyone justify giving more power to the bureaucrats in the area of education?

Anything of John Taylor Gatto's. Standardized testing scores are very easily manipulated in any case (and arguably worthless in the first place) but this attack on homeschooling reminds me of why we should start regulating internet access too... we must keep those "Internet Predators" at bay. We don't need freedom as much as we need the "experts" to tell us we're safe. (another thing we learn in school, btw)

First of all, thank you for printing this sharp contrast article in answer to the one about Michigan Home-Schooling laws are putting children at risk. I don't see a correlation at all. This was a house of horrors but I promise you, it's the exception and not the rule. If CPS and the police had any sense, having just one child homeschooled and the rest at a conventional school would have and should have sent out red flags. That's definitely beyond the norm. The other case you spoke about, the parents weren't even the child's biological parents as he was adopted. What does that tell you? Shouldn't the same be true then that adoptive and foster children are put at risk for child abuse? By their own logic, that's what it should say to us. The government has way too much control in our lives as it is. That, with all the violence in schools today, I would homeschool my children if they were still of that age. There's no way I'd send them to a public school. That's way too scary to me. Besides, every child I've ever met that was homeschooled was pretty darn sharp so don't tell me they don't get a good education. They don't get the SAME education and that, I have found is a very good thing indeed.

Michigan House Joint Resolution NN should have passed in 2008, with a super majority of legislators in complete support of the proposed amendment... would have let the voters decide. Instead, House Leadership (Andy Dillon) unconstitutionally blocked and broke house rules to not allow a vote to place it on the ballot.

The Joint Resolution would have left the parents in control of their own children by declaring to declare the fundamental right of parents and legal guardians to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children.

The School code has similar language already. The problem exists where government is getting bigger and more bold in declaring they know what is best, each and every time an exceptional/sensational disaster happens "once."

Current a proposed Constitutional Amendment at the Federal level would prevent these intrusions. But wait, the government wants to use children's rights to usurp parental control. Something needs to be done. Take a listen to these two podcasts regarding the federal parental rights amendment:
PARENTAL RIGHTS ORG JOINS GET YOUR JUSTICE LIVE JULY 8, 2009
( http://spotlight.getyourjustic...tice-live/ )

US CONGRESSMAN PETE HOEKSTRA AND PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY OF EAGLE FORUM DISCUSS PARENTAL RIGHTS ON GET YOUR JUSTICE LIVE ( http://spotlight.getyourjustic...al-rights/ )

Draw a line in the sand and take heed that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child will take all control from parents and parentify every child in the nation and back them up with a foreign court.

Homeschoolers are parents who educate their children because they want to share that experience with their children. Real homeschoolers do not need to be regulated.

There are children who attend public and private schools that suffer from abuse and neglect -- parents who mistreat their own children will tell any lie to cover it up.

Instead of persecuting homeschoolers, perhaps people could spend their time and energy addressing the problem of child abuse in general.

And fled to San Diego, California as soon as I graduated from Davison High School. I've always found Michigan's troubles and woes very interesting as Michigan was an early applier of many forms of socialism and is now an almost completely ruined state. Alas, my beloved adopted San Diego is now also ruined. I can only hope that my new home of Irving (Dallas), Texas doesn't also end up ruined by applied socialism.

Hello all, and thanks for all the great comments to my newsfeed.

Just came across this article, which appeared earlier this month in the Detroit News:

http://detnews.com/article/20091212/SCHOOLS/912120373/Detroit-parents-want-DPS-teachers--officials-jailed-over-low-test-scores

It's about how angry Motor City parents want public school officials to serve jailtime for the low test scores the schools keep producing. LOL.

Meanwhile, teachers are threatening to strike if their contract demands aren't met. One parent - Sharlonda Buckman - responded to that threat with this threat: "If they strike, I hope we start a homeschool movement."

If only, right?

"...we will end up with a nation of largely undereducated individuals who are woefully lagging in science and mathematics education."

Thanks to the public schools, we already have that! Science and math are not the only areas in which public school youth are deficient. History, reading skills, and basic grammar also fall far short of basic homeschooling standards.

While we can debate home schooling, one thing remains a fact. The 10th Amendment NEVER gave the federal government permission to interfere with our childrens' education. We need to respect the law of the land and not overturn the law based on feelings or opinions.