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I'm not convinced that standardized testing being required of homeschoolers is such a terrible thing. Can you explain why others think that it is?

Also, yearly physicals performed by the family doctor don't strike me as being terrible either. Why are people upset over this?

In the private Christian school my daughter goes to, both yearly physicals and standardized tests are the norm. Their curriculm is A Beka and some secular stuff that is not offensive so I'm puzzled why homeschoolers should be so outraged?

I had planned on homeschooling my daughter however, as an only child it would not be to her advanage. Clearly she wants to be around others her age and a year or two older. If I was to impose homsechooling, she'd be a very lonely child. I do take her to soccer, Little Gym, Ballet and a lanuage school but still she wants normal play time like other kids have. Having said that if we'd had more children then I'd most likly home school.

Well, who is going to pick up the tab for annual physicals? If parents have several children, that could be very expensive.

Let the state pick up the costs then, and the state can pick up the cost for testing. It's the least they can do, considering homeschooling parents are paying taxes for the public schools.

However, if the state thinks it's going to use the same tests mandated under NCLB for homeschooling students, they better watch out because they could lose federal funding for public schools.

We're using A Beka here in our house too. :)

To respond to your questions - first of all, federal law states that no state's public schools may require homeschoolers to take their standardized tests. If they do so, they lose federal funding.

Second of all, what's the point of homeschooling if my teaching is defined by the public school's testing? If they get to tell me what my child must learn in order to pass their tests, why bother?

And the same goes for private schools - will they be required to administer the public school's choice of standardized tests, and therefore tailor their curriculum to cover such as well?

With regard to the medical exams, this one seems like a no-brainer to me. What a scary door it would open into medical privacy. And for what reason are we given that they need to know if my child is healthy? I have to demonstrate what, exactly, that I'm NOT abusing my child, that he or she is eating enough and getting his or her vitamins? I think my kids' pediatrician sees them often enough to determine that without my being forced to run a copy of their records down to the local public school for their perusal. This one smacks totally of Big Brother. And again, private schools are not required to mandate annual exams to their students.

I'm not convinced that standardized testing being required of homeschoolers is such a terrible thing. Can you explain why others think that it is?

The beauty of homeschooling is that each family can teach each of its children in the method which is BEST for THAT child. I have 4 kids and they all learn differently. We've only homeschooled the younger two for the last 3 years, but they have enjoyed it! Next year the youngest will be starting 9th grade at the Catholic boys' high school which our older sons attended. It is a good school, and we know the principal well. Our daughter, however, wants to continue to homeschool. She's in 10th grade, so we have her registered with a high school in Maine for credentialing and diploma purposes.

The standardized tests given by the states usually measure what the kids have learned from the teachers in their schools. The schools have to follow a given curriculum, and there's no way homeschool families are going to be doing that. Since the public school teachers are not teaching our kids, our kids can't possibly be expected to take the same tests that the public school kids take.

The State of Massachusetts is about to OFFER to let private and homeschooled kids take the MCAS in order to qualify for the scholarships which are attached to it. That's fine if it's VOLUNTARY! As long as the state doesn't FORCE homeschooled kids to take it, that's fine. Up til now, private and homeschooled kids were not allowed to take it. It would be interesting to see the performance of 'otherwise educated' kids compared to the public school kids, though.

This is just a way of the state trying to find a way to reassert control over a child that has been removed from its control by the parents.

One of the basic philosophies of homeschooling is that the government is not responsible for educating and raising your children, you are. This goes against the socialist mode.

They don't like it that way. Start reading on a regular basis the HSLDA website. You can see how so much is a "wedge" issue, to try and get their foot in the door and get more control over your kids. It KILLS the socialists that they cannot control the content of what your kids learn. Several states have actually come to the point where they don't want kids taught Christian curriculum.

If you spend some time listening to these people, they REALLY resent homeschooling. They complain the kids are being raised not to be "diverse", to understand other lifestyles, to not be environmentalists and evolutionists, etc.

One of the necessary subjects you MUST teach in NY, even to homeschoolers, is AIDS, kindergarten to high school. It's the law. Maybe I don't want to teach my 6 year old about AIDS.

As far as physicals go, why should the state mandate when you take your kids to the doctor? Some states, while they have them there, will recommend that the children are asked questions like are there guns in the home, etc. It's their foot in the door.

And by testing, they can start requiring what your children must learn. After all, kids are tested on what the liberal socialists think is necessary for them to know, not what you do.

Once you start following homeschooling law, you will see there is a dedicated contigent in the education communitity to get your homeschooling child away from you, by law, by hook or by crook. They want your child. Don't let them fool you with nice words. They are as dedicated as the secularists working hard to get God out of American life.

They lose money (cannot tax you) for any child they don't have. And they cannot implement their agenda if they can't form your children.

I know this is long winded, but this is no "tin hat" tirade. It is the deadly truth. Last year some CA education officials were actually caught boasting they would make homeschooling in CA illegal.

People have been, and are still going, to jail for hsing. The fight will never be really over.

Also, yearly physicals performed by the family doctor don't strike me as being terrible either. Why are people upset over this?
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As far as physicals go, why should the state mandate when you take your kids to the doctor? Some states, while they have them there, will recommend that the children are asked questions like are there guns in the home, etc. It's their foot in the door.

Right, the state has no business mandating when you take your kids to the doctor. Many doctors, like "educators," have taken on the role of agents of the nanny-state. They assume that parents are bad, ignorant, or neglectful, and that all children are in need of the enlightened ministrations of the state.

A couple of years ago I had to take my then 16-year son for a mandatory sports physical. The doctor asked him, out of the blue, "Have you ever thought of committing suicide?" Let it be known that my son was clearly a happy, well-adjusted kid, and there were no symptoms that should have provoked such a question.

And this was while I was in the room with him! I wonder what even more intrusive questions these doctors-morphed-into-social-workers ask when you're not in the room with your child?