[GladesGuru]

" - I can see the potential for a large problem."

Perhaps you meant, " -- on very few occasions, such a problem might occur"?

Given the number of "abuses" in public versus home school situations, I would argue that the intrusion of government between parent and child is a far greater danger than preventing a very rare case of "child abuse".

"AGENCY ABUSE" is far more to be feared than "child abuse".

When we first allowed some goober from a gooberment agency to displace G*d as the one to whom the parent was responsible for for the child until said child was an adult, AND when we assumed that the final authority for the child's raising was some goober instead of the parent to whom G*d gave the child, we took the first step towards actualizing the following.

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." --Josef Stalin

In answering the question of who is responsible for the child's raising to adulthood, Ya still wanna substitute some nameless, faceless, unaccountable goober for that child's

And, do you really believe that man can create a world without evil? If so, have I got a deal just for you - cash only and small bills, please. ;-)

I really do think you might want to balance the evils, so to speak. Somehow, I feel certain that when you do this, the "Final Authority" of the goober won't be so appealing.

Summation: Better, by far, that someday, some where, some child be abused by its parent than many of us be abused regularly, by goobers in gooberment agencies.

[jude24]

Given the number of "abuses" in public versus home school situations, I would argue that the intrusion of government between parent and child is a far greater danger than preventing a very rare case of "child abuse".

Unless you have access to the statistics (and are essentially omniscient regarding unreported abuse), you are basing your conclusion upon nothing more than a scientific wild-assed guess.

goober from a gooberment agency

As far as I am concerned, this undercuts your entire credibility for reasoned debate.

When we first allowed some goober from a gooberment agency to displace G*d as the one to whom the parent was responsible for for the child until said child was an adult, AND when we assumed that the final authority for the child's raising was some goober instead of the parent to whom G*d gave the child,

It's not an either/or. The simple fact of the matter is that the government - especially in this more technical age - has a compelling interest in ensuring that children are adequately educated so that they have options other than welfare or slinging burgers at McDonalds. Additionally, while most homeschool parents are good decent folks doing their best to educate their children, there have been a few whose treatment of their children ranged from unfortunate neglect to active abuse. Abusive parents don't just answer to God - they answer to the State, and rightfully so.

Ya still wanna substitute some nameless, faceless, unaccountable goober for that child's [parents?]

Assuming I interpreted your sentence fragment correctly, in some cases, absolutely yes. While government is not well-placed to protect a child's interest and should generally remain hands-off, there are some parents who are so astonishingly bad that the governemnt must intervene. No one else will.

There are enough bad apples out there to justify some minimal reporting requirements. The only people who will have trouble with an annual curriculum plan, quarterly reports, and annual teaching are those who won't be teaching at all. I could find you (given enough digging) my own grade-school records kept when I was a homeschooled pupil.