JC> If I had it to do all over again, I would homeschool my children.
A lot of people have said that to me.
JC> From what I read in the news around here, most of the objection to home
  > schooling comes from those that stand to lose monetarily if people are
  > allowed to home school (or charter school or private school). These are
  > groups like the NEA, teacher's unions, textbook sellers, etc. I don't
Agreed.  Although text book sellers are beginning to come around, simply
because many home schoolers buy textbooks for their kids.  Textbook
publishers are beginning to realize that homeschoolers also represent a
valuable market.  It's true that those who sell to public schools may be
coming across this late; since folks like Saxon already have a corner on
much of the homeschooling market.   But they are coming around.  Holt
math books are very popular among certain groups of homeschoolers.
  > know about other states, but in Oregon a public school gets "X" dollars
  > for every enrolled student. It is to their financial gain to discourage
  > _anything_ that takes a child _out_ of public school and _encourage_
That's certainly true.  In our state, public schools lose money when
kids are homeschooled, or when they are enrolled in private schools.
  > anything that keeps a child in public school. I was just reading the
  > other day about some communities that now have laws that allow 
harassing"
  > school-age children (and their parents) on the public streets even if the
  > child is being home schooled and is on a "field trip".
So far, in New Jersey, that has not been happening; but I do know places
where it does happen.
JC> These same groups are also opposed to anything that _might_ be an attempt
  > to get the public schools to do a better job. Here in Portland, the 
chool
  > district has basically "fired" the _entire_ staff (yes, from the 
rincipal
  > down to the last teacher) of two schools (one elementary and one high 
schoo
  > for "poor performance" by their respective student bodies. Huge outcry by
  > teachers that: "It's not OUR fault!"
It's not *entirely* their fault.  Parents, the community, and the
neighborhood all play a part.  But it is at least partly the fault of
the folks running the schools and the classrooms.
JC> Actually, an uneducated parent probably knows _more_ about what public
  > schools _don't_ provide than an educated parent who is "assuming" their
  > child is getting an education.
That's *very* true.
JC> BTW, merely having a college education _doesn't_ make one a school 
teacher.
  > I suspect most states are like Oregon where if you want to be a school
  > teacher, you _must_ have completed a "special" course of instruction and 
be
  > "certified". I have a B.S. in  History, but there is NO way I could get a
  > job as an Elementary School teacher. And you definetly _don't_ teach 
oung
  > children using "college professor" techniques. 
I know that.  I also know that about five years ago, a homeschooling
case appeared before the court in Kentucky. The school was taking a
family to court because the mother was not a certified teacher, and
certified teachers were better at teaching than non-certified teachers.
The judge was in sympathy with the school; and, on his own, ordered a
post ponement of the trail until the school attorney could find
documentation which proved that kids taught by certified teachers scored
better on standarized tests than those taught by non-certified teachers.
Although several studies had been done on the subject, none of them
showed that kids taught by certified techers did better than those
taught by non-certified teachers.
JC> There is one HUGE difference between homeschooling (or charter or private
  > schools) and public schools that very seldom gets mentioned. And that is
  > "parental participation in the child's education". Most charter (or 
private
  > schools around here _require_ a LOT more parental participation than any
  > public school.
I think that's true.
JC> SB> And that a whopping 87%
  > SB> percent spent some time every day playing with kids outside the 
family.
JC> And I'll bet that most of the homeschooling parents _know_ who those kids
  > are. The playmates are not simply some anonymous face the kid meets at
  > school.
That's true.  Almost all homeschooling parents know who their kids hang
out with; and, in most cases, they know the parents of those kids.  And
that's true, whether the parents are neighbors, or are other
homeschoolers, or are parents met through an organized activity.  Most
homeschooling parents I know make it a point to know their kids'
friends' parents.
JC> BTW, did this man include "TV watching" statistics?
Yep!  And the results are absolutely shocking!
On the question, "how many hours per day does this child watch
television?," six percent of homeschooled kids watched three or more
hours a day compared to sixty-two percent of public schooled kids.
                                Sondra
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