TuscMoms.com

This is interesting...shocking, but it is interesting how it came to happen that the issue came up. I have to admit that I have wondered before if children homeschooled by parents without a college education are at a disadvantage, but I don't think that possiblity trumps parents rights to make their own decisions about schooling their children.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1720697,00.html

Oh my God! I hope this doesn't get around.
We homeschool our tot, so of course I'm shocked and disgusted.
My husband and I both have college degrees, but I don't think they're an absolute necessity. What matters is dedication, and I think most homeschooling parents have plenty of that.
I definitely don't think you need a teaching degree to do it, either. Teachers are trained to teach large groups of kids. They have to be good at "crowd control" and they have to know how to deal with a wide variety of problems and learning issues; they also have to work with kids they don't really know (and can never really know) very well.
Homeschoolers only deal with a handful of kids, at the most. And they usually know their students - and their students' learning problems and needs - quite well.

Ya know - - schools are overcrowded as it is. I think it would be an awful injustice to "make" all kids attend school, especially if they are passing their homeschooling exams and progressing. What would the government officials do then when enrollments double in already overcrowded schools?? Will they fork out the money to pay? Doubt it! So instead of a homeschooled child having books and materials to learn with, they will have to share text books and supplies and their exposure to curriculum will become very limited. That is currently the biggest problem in our classrooms now - - money! Lack of pay, staff, materials and money to do anything enriching! If this becomes law then all of education will suffer!!

Here's a brief list of folks who would not be allowed to homeschool:

(Edited to say that these are people who don't have college degrees. Those w/o teaching certificates are pretty much everybody not already teaching school.)

Peter Jennings
Walter Cronkite
Earnest Hemmingway
Frank Lloyd Wright
Eleanor Roosevelt
Bill Gates
Abraham Lincoln
and
Brittney Spears


I agree with DistractedMom, it's dedication that makes a good homeschooler. There are resources available when Mom or Dad run into difficulties. Honestly, I think pretty much anybody that can read (who has the dedication and determination) can homeschool up to (and possibly through) middle school. A lot of the homeschoolers that I have known have put their child in regular high school.

I don't homeschool, but it's not rocket science in 5th grade. A lot of the materials up to that point are memorizations. Also, there's nothing wrong with the parent learning as they go.

I admit there is one flaw to this train of thought: Who's there to decide if the parent is a Peter Jennings or a Brittney Spears?

Thank you Funnymummy. And thank you for sticking up for us homeschoolers on that other forum, too.

No prob, Distracted. This is a much friendlier--and wiser--environment. I wanted to write a response, but thought it wiser to just bite my tongue!!

I'm glad this isn't a gossip spinning, mud slinging, prank pulling forum.

Not that we know any like that, right?!

Right... I'm just glad, that's all.

I was forced in my senior year to do my last semester of school via homeschooling. I hated I didn't get to graduate with my class, but loved the flexibility and ability to learn at my own pace. I think every parent should have the right to home-school if they wish. I don't know of any parent that would intentionally hurt their child by not having them adequatly educated. I have thought about the possibility of home-schooling, at least through elementary school, but haven't figured out yet how we can take the paycut and still survive. I hope this does not become an issue here.