The purpose of the test in this case is two-fold: ostensibly, it is to measure the education level of the children, but the real agenda here is to find some concrete reason to actually physically remove the children from the home and place them in public school ("for their own good"). This is the hidden goal of the State and DSS, because the parents have defied the power of the State. The State knows they are on thin ice, so they are trying to "stack the deck" in their favor.
When the children go to college, they will of course have to take an entrance exam. They should be allowed to take standard SAT's when they choose to, and not at the behest of the State.
They will be. The State doesn't decide who takes SATs, ACTs or any other truly important test. They're all run by private companies, and anyone can take them at any time, at any age. You could send your 6-year-old in to do it, or you could take it yourself at age 50, so long as you're willing to plunk down the $30.
I don't buy that. That's the paranoid conspiracy mentality. My state has mandated that all public and private school students pass a set of criteria every 3 years or so in the basic skills (the 3 r's). I personally think that homeschoolers should be subject to the same requirements. I am all for parents rights to homeschool their kids.... but I am also all for a kids right to an education. Many homeschoolers do a wonderful job teaching their kids. And many do a lousy job. It's just that simple. I know for a fact there are kids who enter school districts in this country in middle or high school who are seriously deficient in basic skills due to homeschooling.
This costs districts more money, citizens more tax dollars etc because the kids were not taught sufficently.
Again... many homeschoolers do a super job. They should not fear testing for basic skills.