I think you have to be diligent as a parent in all areas and check what is going on in their lifes.   Even with our homestay students. I dont' check on the homework but they better be doing it and going to school and they know it.  We give them help when they ask of course.

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that the case has been overturned as far as homeschooling being illegal for all.  It was never illegal in the first place.  There are 3 options to which you can file to "legally" homeschool in CA.  The govenor, and many high officals are already supporting the needed legal documents that are needed to keep it going.  Not sure what article states any different. 

What exactly went on in California is a it convoluted with different articles and angles.  My understanding is that a push for instating a requirement for a teaching certificate was the big issue. The HSLDA has more information.

I agree with Kerimon. My son was home schooled for 13  years..well really for his whole life as learning begins at birth . He was accepted into college and the Army. He just applied for a job with a large corporation . He scored so high that they offered him a management position  but being the smart homeschooler he is ..he decided that this being his first big job ..he would wait. That was in December ..he is now training for management . He did not take the GED . In NC a home school is considered a private school and can issue a diploma . He was tested every year through BJU .My son has done very well and as you can tell from the way I write ...I did not have a college degree ! I have friends who home schooled with the parent having only a GED and those kids are now gone on to college . I am very much in favor of homeschooling ....it is not the easy way out as some seem to think . It takes dedication . There are indeed those that say the home school and let the kids play ..but I feel they are few in number . I was asked once if I felt I was giving my son a better education that the "trained" teachers at a public school could ..my reply was ..its not what he learns that concerns me ..its what he doesn`t learn . I would rather have my son be a kind caring person and not even be able to read than to have him act like most public school kids I work with at church . I have heard all the arguments for and against homeschooling ..I pray my grandchild is home schooled .

I hope they get the California thing all figured out so parents can exercise their rights.

Oh yeah...and standardized tests STINK.  The whole idea behind them is to see if the children are learning certain milestones, but the problem is that schools are so obsessed with getting a "passing grade" on the standardized tests that they basically teach ONLY things that might show up on it.  For example, my 3rd grade DD was asking me how to spell something when I was making dinner and I told her to look it up since I was busy.  She told me that she didn't know how to use a dictionary.  WHAT??  I can remember in 3rd grade having to look things up in the dictionary and writing out the definitions.  Also, we had to learn the pronounciation codes so we could pronounce things we had not heard before.  She is not learning this.  Does anyone else remember the schwa or is that just me?  As a result of this apparent failure of the school system to teach the kids critical methodology, or basically HOW to learn, we let them go to public school during the regular school year and then we homeschool them in the summer.  The kids actually enjoy it because we do a lot of hands on learning.  They both have said that it helps them during the regular school year.

No chance of that being illegal.

Yeah, I think I was in third grade or so when we were taught how to use a dictionary and read the pronunciation guide (public school circa 1988). 

I think if I had a kid, I'd be hunting turn-of-the-century or older school books and teach Laura Ingalls style.  I was re-reading those books one day and I told my husband it was shameful, but I didn't know the declaration of independence by heart.  And I might get it confused with the Constitutional Preamble.  That was BASIC learning 100 years ago!  My husband said he had to learn both in school, but he didn't remember but bits of pieces of them either.  I pointed out that the old-fashioned method of teaching, which included a large memorization component, exercised the memory so that people learned to memorize faster and retain it.  I mean, critical thinking and the ability to think rationally for ourselves is very important as well, but now it seems to be all critical thinking and no memorization, which is why people seem like such airheads when Jay Leno goes "Jay Walking" and asks people simple questions. 

i home school our ds, he is special needs, we stayed in public school until ds was finshed with 5th grade(public school repeated1st grade 2 times) by the end of 5th grade, the iep testing showed that ds was at a pre kindergarden level and that his last year ds had not had any work for that yr.,(his teacher was fired for fist fighting another teacher, this was his behavior special ed teacher too, then 6 weeks before a teacher was hired, then ds was sent home with a teacher coming to our home 1 1/2 hrs 2 times a week) i was teaching him when the home teacher wasn't coming, dh and i made the choice to homeschool him, now in 3 yrs ,we have him at a 5th grade level about on all subjects but one, homeschooling is not a picnic, it is hard, but for our ds it was the best, now he has life skills(that we work on it daily with workbooks and lessons) and i know that one day he will be able to do most things that others do, yes he will need us during his life, but he is learning, something public school could not and would not do for him.

we send his test scores to the state each yr. i also send his iq scores with them, so the state will know  why he is not at grade level.

Dear All, I just heard on teh radio that the CA teachers' association is facing off against the CA Dept of Education today in court, as to whether to approve or disapprove the CA lower court decision making it illegal to home-school without a teaching credential.  I'll keep you posted.  Yours in Him, Deb

Keriamon:

I think if I had a kid, I'd be hunting turn-of-the-century or older school books and teach Laura Ingalls style.

It works very well.

I don't think I would say that the education of long ago was focused solely on memorisation and today's education was critical and rational thinking. I have a classical foundation for our homeschool and I spent much more time memorising dry and disjointed bits of information than my kids do.

Researching education is fascinating. If you are interested:

What is classical education?

Classical education today

Thomas Jefferson Education

The Thomas Jefferson Education Consortium

The Prairie Primer

Charlotte Mason Method

I have homeschooled for 30 years 7 of the older children all hold degrees and 5 are professional , our two oldest DD are but finishing they didnt finish college both got married and had family One DD will be teaching school and the other will be an RN ..  My 13 year old DD will graduate at 15 she taking two colleges course now .. I was home schooled