My Zen Arcade

My thing here isn’t with the idea of home-schooling.  Its with the hands-off policies some states have.  We agree that kids should have to get at least something of an education, whether at home or in a school.  But if there’s no regulation on home-schooling, if parents just have to come in and say “We aren’t sending our kids to school, we’ll just teach them at home” then there’s no way to know if thats actually happening.  Parents could, in fact, be keeping their kids home in order to put them to work.  They could, in fact, be home-schooling them without teaching them what we as a society consider important (such as reading, and math).
A hands-off policy isn’t supportive of home-schooling.  Its the state abandoning kids.

Home-schoolers reel from California court blow – Yahoo! News

The number of students nationwide who are home-schooled is not known because 10 states are so hands-off they require no reporting at all, nor do parents always comply with reporting requirements. Estimates range from 1.1 million to 2.5 million home-schooled students, and the numbers are rising.About half the states require more than simple notification from parents or guardians, such as testing, curriculum approval, or home visits. But such rules are dwindling – either explicitly or by lax enforcement, say experts. Home-school advocates worry the California case could bring more regulation or enforcement, or both.