Are Homeschooled Kids at a Disadvantage?

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If that many thousands of dollars are taking from each taxpayer each year to support public education, of course the schools need to be accountable for how that money is used. And the public school system holds a huge public trust, educating, and practically raising, the children of parents who can't or won't get involved with their children's education.

HSC does not understand, however, why homeschooling parents need to be accountable to society for the education of their children. Society does not have a right to inspect a family's eating habits, or personal philosophy, or other aspects of child-rearing that may, in fact, impact society down the road. It has to trust the parents to act in their children's best interests until there is proof that the parents are acting abusively. This is a risk that a free society has to take to preserve freedom. These families are not taking public resources (if they are using public money by participating in public programs, then those programs and the families enrolled in them are accountable). Just as parents have to be assumed to be raising their children properly, parents should be trusted to do what is right for their children in educating them, because they have the greatest stake in the outcome. The family that claims it is homeschooling but does nothing out of lack of energy to try or to send kids to school may exist, but it would be extremely cynical to believe that all parents have similar lack of motivation.

The creative approaches that homeschooling parents can use to teach their children may not pass muster as "research- and standards-based education", but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. The public school approach may be the best way to teach the greatest number of kids, but that doesn't mean it's the best way to teach every kid or the kids in a particular family.  The family must remain free to choose the best means for preparing their kids for life.