Dr. Eileen Gallagher

In this era of violence in schools, attacks on schools, failing schools and drop out students, the number of students being home schooled is on the rise. Parents are finding new ways to provide the learning their children need in a safe and nurturing environment. Home Schooling is not always a case of Mom and Dad teaching the students. Often times it is small groups of families coming together to provide the learning environment. Some students are home schooled by tutors or online classes. There are many different types of home schooling situations outside the realm of traditional schools.

Children have been schooled in this manner from the early pioneer days to our current day situation. Now, however, some states are starting to try to enforce new regulations on parents who wish to home school their children. In New Hampshire, parents are protesting the new law being considered that would require parents who wish to home school their children to file a lesson plan for their full program before being allowed to withdraw their children from the public school program. California has gone even further. They want to require that the person teaching the home schooled child must be a certified teacher. California already has a system in place that the Board of Education feels is adequate to protect the learning for these children.

Are the legislatures trying to protect these children or are they trying to make it harder for parents to withdraw their children from the public schools system? Why would they try to keep the children in a violent, failing school system? Is it because funds from the state to run the schools are based on the number of children in attendance? When the number of students drop, money tightens, jobs are lost and the economy slows. So how can we as educators help parents provide a safe and nurturing learning environment in today’s chaotic world?