Danna, that is a great, professional sounding letter! Not the vitriolic kind of thing I'd be tempted to write.

I just wanted to say though, that I have lived (and homeschooled) in two different states now that do not have any oversite of whether the kids are learning anything. In California and in Texas, there are no tests and no papers required to be turned in. In Texas, you just don't send your kids to school. They are legally considered to be private schooled, but you don't have to tell the state anything about it. In California, you do have to file a form declaring your home to be a private school. After that, no further paperwork is required.

However, I still think that the argument that schools should monitor homeschoolers academically is ridiculous in light of how public schools fail so many children. I'm not sure that I would feel good about them interfering even if they were teaching 100% of the kids 100% of the time, but until that happens, I don't think that they are in any position to criticize how homeschoolers do things. I think that school teachers do a great job with what they've got. My respect for them has increased greatly since I began homeschooling. I think it's hard teaching one or two kids. I can't begin to imagine teaching 20 or 30. But the fact remains that many children don't thrive in the public school environment. So, as far as I'm concerned, if the state wants to interfere in my home, they should at least have to prove my kids would really be better off in school.

Abuse cases belong to CPS, not the local school district.

Lauralyn