LogFAQs > #976558648

I'm a high school mathematics teacher. My sister has 5 kids and homeschools. She also married into an evangelical Christian family that also homeschooled.

I have my concerns and opinions to say the least.

I believe that parents should have the right to homeschool, but there needs to be standards, oversight, public funding, public resources, and public training.

In many communities, schools are the number one source of education, nutrition, physical activity, safety, and social interaction for kids and adolescents. Teachers and staff are some of the first responders in a physical or emotional crisis and are mandatory reporters of abuse, neglect, or mental health concerns.

We are trained and educated to understand developmental psychology, pedagogy, epistemology, and of course our content area. Most parents have none of this training nor experience. Should they choose to homeschool then they need to demonstrate competency and get publicly funded supports founded in educator-led research and practices for teaching their kids.

Conservatives are doing everything in their power to dismantle public education and replace it with for-profit private and charter schools; all of which would be founded in religious and political indoctrination. Homeschooling and fearmongering about public schools are other tools they're using to further this agenda.