I guess I understand the reasoning behind wanting home schoolers to be taught by certified teachers, but many of the “certified teachers” that I had in high school, and even college, were terrible teachers.

The best teachers that I’ve had were people with real world life experience in the subjects that they were teaching. I don’t put a lot of stock in teaching credentials as the state requires them. I honestly think that I could do just as good a job teaching my own children in my own home as well as the public school system could manage to.

I understand this is an unpopular and biased viewpoint, but as an adult I look back at public school with disappointment. I used to get in trouble in school because I was always so bored. I didn’t do drugs or anything, I just didn’t like to go to class because it was so slow paced and boring. Public school caters to the lowest common denominator, with few opportunities for gifted students to shine.

Every single person that I personally know who was homeschooled was a brilliant college student and very well adjusted. I know that’s my limited experience, but there it is.

First, it should be noted that homeschoolers have been legally educating their children. The 1953 decision didn’t ban homeschooling, including those without credentials. In fact, California law currently allows homeschoolers to register with the state as a private school, only educating their own children. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association provides good information for all interested in the legalities of homeschooling in all states. Here’s the options for Californians.

Additionally, it’s important to understand that this recent decision not only wasn’t clear enough to forbid the currently legal homeschools, but it doesn’t change things today or tomorrow for those of use legally homeschooling here in California.

And to those ignorant enough to think that the government’s certificate is enough to make one qualified to teach, you should ask your own children’s public school teachers if they have any cohorts who shouldn’t be in the classroom.

I don’t mean to be so defensive, and I know that my observance of successful homeschooling and my own homeschooling is a limited experience. However, it should be noted that the majority of homeschool students achieve significantly higher in everything thrown at them, including college admissions, SAT scores, and even graduate school admission.

Taking a short investigation of the US’s history, you’ll find that many great Americans were homeschooled. Abraham Lincoln, Sandra Day Oconner, John Quincy Adams, John Rutledge, Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Florence Nightingale, John Jay, Thomas Edison, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Stonewall Jackson, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur , Booker T. Washington, Patrick Henry, Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison all the “victims” of homeschooling. If any one of my kids turns out half as accomplished, they’ll be blessed to have been homeschooled. You’ll also find that homeschooler statistics even support the idea that homeschooling generally produces better human beings.

Just one more article that helps us understand some of the modern history of homeschooling in the USA.

I know that we all “know someone who was homeschooled.” Usually that statement includes socially limited kids who are horribly deficient. Let me tell you that those kids are not the norm, nor are they even very quantifiable in today’s modern homeschooling environment.

Feel free to wander over to my blog, find my contact info, and start up a conversation, if you’re interested in learning more about homeschooling.