The Washington Times last weekend had an interesting story about the problems of withdrawing kids from the government school system in order to home school them. Now it's no secret that the government schools don't like the amateurs meddling in their specialty -- pay no attention to those test scores, issues of safety and health, character development, etc. which overwhelmingly favor the home school option -- but this report suggests the government school officials feel a special animus when parents "take back "their children during a term. ...For example, in the late 1980s, the Home School Legal Defense Association represented a family from a small town in Iowa that decided to begin home-schooling their son in the middle of the school year. The 12-year-old boy had become despondent because he had been labeled as learning disabled and the taunts of his peers that followed. He refused to go to school. His mother had to physically take him to school, yet he was not learning at school and his mental and physical health were deteriorating. When the mother informed the principal she had no choice but to home-school her son, he responded, "Over my dead body."
Fortunately, we were able to convince the county attorney not to prosecute the family and they successfully finished the school year at home and continued home-schooling through high school...
Read the whole story here.
