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Homeschooling Resources: Homeschooling Information

Education Controversies: The Good Side Of Government Oversight On Homeschool Attendance
By Mimi Rothschild

As homeschool alternatives to public education have gained deserved credibility and growth, so too has the need grown for school districts to ensure that homeschool is not being abused. The move toward greater oversight of homeschool has created tension between some parents who homeschool their children and the very educational institutions they sought to escape. However, despite sentiments against intrusion into the homeschool, the fact remains that some people in some places, for whatever reason, abuse the homeschool method. In so doing they sabotage the education of their children as well as tarnish the otherwise glowing reputation of homeschool in general.

There are some who would publicize the exceptional cases to detract from the larger pattern of homeschool success. Viewed in this light, anti-truancy measures have been applied to homeschool; greater oversight of homeschool models need not be a negative. In fact, creating or maintaining some connections and links between educational institutions and the homeschool may prove ultimately beneficial in terms of increased resources for parents and students steeped in the homeschool model.

Most calls for increased oversight of homeschool involve the question of truancy. While the right to homeschool one's child is inalienable, the argument of overseers is that this right does and should not preclude measures to ensure that a student engaged in homeschool is indeed attending and receiving an education. That is, due to some unfortunate examples of student truancy and parental negligence, some school districts are beginning to exercise their authority over students in homeschool programs.

While over-regulation of homeschool is clearly not desirable, measures to ensure accountability on the basic level of attendance may well be a positive development for the homeschool project. Such moves toward attendance accountability imply that educational institutions are accepting homeschool as a fact, something to be worked with instead of against. Furthermore, such basic oversight and accountability will serve to strengthen the popularity and acceptance of homeschool by helping to dispel questions some people continue to carry regarding homeschool's effectiveness. In moving toward attendance oversight, “professional” educational institutions are in reality certifying homeschool programs as “valid” forums for education.

Finally, while the purpose of homeschool is indeed for greater control of the parent and student over their education, this need not mean severing all ties to educational institutions. Some would argue that maintaining links to classroom based schools, public or otherwise, may be beneficial in that they may provide some academic or extra-curricular resources otherwise unavailable. While freedom of choice in education is central to homeschool, this freedom need not mean drawing sharp divisions between the homeschool model and the classroom, for the fact is both models can serve to inform and improve each other.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.

Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.