Originally published at: I Homeschool My Kids, but I’m Repulsed by the Parental Rights Movement - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This story is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. My partner and I homeschool our four kids. We chose it for reasons that will sound familiar to many families who educate at home: flexibility, the ability to tailor instruction to each child’s interests and pace, and the chance to foster…
PFFT… Only TRUMP homeschooling will be allowed, which continues the 40+ year old Republican Tradition of keeping American students down.
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It’s child abuse, no matter what parents say. Sprinkle in religious overtones, plus the us against “them” paranoia , and good luck kids.
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Our school district has, for more than 30 years, committees on just about everything in the District. They basically beg people to join the committees - curriculum, staffing, facilities, etc. Very few bother.
Bring in a loud mouthed parental rights candidate demanding that parents have input and they win the election. Does anyone in local media - or even their opponents - point out they could have joined in on any of these committees and been involved from the planning states. 
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You lost me at “I homeschool.” It’s child abuse.
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When you homeschool you are tunneling your child’s education through you, thus narrowing your child’s mind. Rather than learning to socialize in a real world, the children are limited to choice of one or two people who many may observe, are scared of the real world. A child going through the public education system is exposed to at least 12 teachers, likely more, who are trained educators and teaching concepts their parents are blind to.
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excellent point, if you have the time, send this to your local paper ‘letters to the editor’ or all the major news organizations
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@txlawyer I enjoy your posts and legal insights. However, your broad brush painting of homeschooling as child abuse is asinine. My wife and I homeschooled our children because our district was hopelessly median. 50th percentile in every regional ranking. We sacrificed income for the benefit of our kids. Are there fundamentalist know nothings out there? Of course. We encountered them in associations with other home schoolers. Our daughter noticed snooty distain from “Christian” moms in middle school over our more progressive views of life. She proudly debated our values with her peers in these groups. She won some fast friends for that, and was shunned by others. We hugged her and told her to always stand up for her beliefs and what is right.
When done correctly, home schooling starts out where the parent is the teacher and then gradually evolves to the parent role becoming that of facilitator as you instruct them how to study, practice, and research letting them do more and more on their own. Both of our children won multiple regional science fair competitions over the years in the South Jersey/Philly area against public school students. They were joined by friends from several other homeschool families in their success. Collectively these home school kids kicked ass. All are grown now living out successful careers.
My daughter never attended a public school in her life until she qualified for US State Department program (NSLI-Y) that allowed her to spend her 12th grade year in Beijing. Just one of 36 selected nationally. She than proceeded to earn her dual Bachelor’s in Chinese and Supply Chain Logistics finishing a semester early with high honors. She now works for a Fortune 100 company in Manhattan and is being tracked for bigger and greater roles.
Now, homeschooling is not for every child. Our son made it through 7th grade when his stubbornness finally pushed Mrs. C14 to eat him alive. Fortunately Dad came home in time to commute his sentence to four years in the public school. He has gone on to earn a degree in Culinary Arts, before deciding that kitchen life is not really what he wants to do. He now serves in the Air Force working in a contracting office thankfully far out of harms way.
Sorry for the long response, but there are many out there that do not comprehend the true nature of homeschooling because the fundamentalists and some folks who sadly are abusers are the ones who make the news. In conclusion, what made us qualified to homeschool our kids. Nothing, other than the idea that we could make our children’s lives better than our own on our own terms.