Hmmm...I can see where this would make homeschoolers angry. Mainly the part that basically says that parents need to be certified and curriculum approved by the state. After all, isn't this why you homeschool? For one reason, to get away from the state and school your children the way YOU want to?

BUT, I can see a couple of the points made. I don't feel homeschoolers need to participate in school-run extracurricular activities. I think activities such as athletic, vocational (like Future Farmers of America) and academic activities (science bowl, FBLA) should be restricted to students enrolled in that school. However, if a group of homeschoolers wanted to start their own teams and either be approved by the state's Activities Association, or just play scrimmages against local schools, I support that. Being a part of your school's team is an honor. You are representing your school by good sportsmanship and teamwork. How can a homeschooler show school pride on a team if they don't support the school?

I also support the last part that says the school will decide placement and credits earned if a homeschooled student were to join the ranks of the public school. Using someone I know as an example: This guy (a cousin we try not to claim) homeschooled his children, but when the oldest was 10 and was tested, she was far behind where a 4th grader should be. He then made the decision that he wasn't a very good homeschooler (cough, no kidding, cough) and enrolled her in school. Had she been placed in a 4th grade class, the teacher would have struggled to catch her up and neglected the rest of the class. And with the whole no child left behind BS (yes, that is something I do not like from the Bush administration. Make a note of it, Lynn. LOL!), having that girl in the class where she should have been could have put the schools AYP in jeoperdy.

AYP is a stupid thing. We are having problems with it in our school. See, the school tests most of the kids (3rd-11th grade, except either 9th or 10th, I forget which). But then when the results are figured out, everything is broke down into subgroups. A subgroup for blacks, for Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, economically disadvantaged, etc. The entire school could have passed, but if one of the 37 subgroups fail, then the whole school fails and doesn't pass AYP (then the media makes a huge deal out of it). And in a school the tiny size of ours, it doesn't take much not to make AYP. And I'll tell you why. Because a family from Mexico moved here with 4 kids who never attended any school before, and none of them knew English, or even knew how to read Spanish. But they moved here a month before the testing. So we had to test them. And we failed AYP in the Hispanic subgroup. Therefore, the entire middle school was given a big black mark. Get that mark 3 years in a row, the state takes over the school. Now you may not think that one family would be a big deal. But when you class sizes are 10-20 kids for an entire grade, it makes a BIG deal. And NCLB wants schools to be 100% proficient by 2014! HA! NOTHING is 100%, nothing except death and taxes, my friend.

Sorry, not my blog. As a public school mom (and I'm sleeping with a school board member. Shhh, don't tell my husband. LOL!), I can see part of what the NEA is talking about. I do agree though that the state doesn't need to get involved in WHO schools the children, what their creditials are, or what the curriculum is.