Homeschool? HA! You must be joking! You're in California remember?!

Welcome to beautiful, sunny California. Home to gorgeous cities, surreal beaches, and a state which cracks down on home school parents because they have the gall to believe they can teach their children something without big brother credentials!

"A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution."

What is perhaps a little more disturbing about this ruling is the all-knowing judge's reason for the decision:"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."

There is no where in the federal, or from my understanding of the article, neither in the state constitution that specifically says a parent must send a student to a public school since they might not hold teaching credentials. The Judge is stating that you now need credentials to teach your children even though home school curriculum is moderated by those with teaching credentials and the children have to meet state standards anyways. Apparently then credentials given by the state hold the mantle for what is right for your kids, especially in education! This perhaps wouldn't be as bad if parents were given the opportunity to actually chose which state funded high school their children could go to instead of being mandated based on their location. But that is nothing but a pipe dream. This is a scary article people for many reasons because this is just short of fascism. When a state mandates what you can do with children under the guise of children protection laws, the slippery slope has just begun!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL