We've been homeschooling since 1993 (wow), and homeschoolers have never fit the neat box that the media would like to stick them in.
For years, the media has tried to peg us all as evangelicals, but we've known Christians; non-Christians; Catholics; Jewish HSers; Mormons; 7th Day Adventists; atheists; skeptics; hippies; homesteaders; people who travel; every "race" you could imagine; people who homeschool because their children are ill; athletes; unschoolers; artists; business owners; people who were unemployed; married; divorced; single parents; musicians; gifted children; children with delays and learning disorders; every socioeconomic class you can imagine; parents without a high school diploma; parents with PhDs; teenagers with college degrees; elementary aged kids in college; members of the military; farmers; miners; doctors; ranchers; engineers; families with 12 children; families with one child; families where both parents stayed home; families where no parent stayed home; you name it.
Parents from all walks of life; united in their desire to do the right thing and provide their children with the best education possible.
So, this is nice, but we do not need to media's approval, and should openly question why there is interest now.
Most of the homeschoolers in my neighborhood (more home schoolers than public school kids) home school because they know that they can do a better job than the public school, in a lot less time than it takes in a public school classroom and when the most of the neighborhood is homeschooled, there is no lack of socializing, either.
We need to make a big change when it comes to what we call our “local” schools.
It is a fact that all local residents pay the property taxes that go into “local” schools. Yet, parents who pay local taxes imto local schools in their area are unable, and often not allowed, to obtain any direct benefit for themselves and their children for their tax contribution to the schools.
Off the top of my head I can think of at least three areas where the “local school resources” should be open to participation by the home-schooled children of parents who pay taxes into the local schools.
Their children should, at a minimum, be allowed to parrticipate in all the “non-academic” activities of their local schools - gymn class and participation in the school’s organized sports teams, elective classes like music and drama, and use of the schools’ library facilities.
Also when local schools host college entrance examinations like the SATs, ALL local children, even the local home- schooled children should be allowed participation in them.
I am sure other “common” benefits of the local school infrastructure could be listed as resources that ought to open to any children whose parent’s taxes are funding that infrastructure, even if they are “home schooled”.