Ok, ok, let's clear things up in this thread, mmmhhhmmm? :3

First of all, it's absurd to think that any standards of homeschooling come without any sort of qualifying factors to keep track of them. You can't just let a kid live at home for 18 years straight and then give them a high school diploma for nothing. In California, it USED to be that a person would be able to do one of three things to maintain their status as a home-schooled person. The most popular options are 2 and 3, which are "get a private tutor for three hours a day for half the year and teach all the subjects taught in the average school" and "sign up at a private or public school and become a member of an "independent study" program" (the second one being a fancy term for "take all your classes at your local community college). #2 is used most often by child actors and the like, and #3 is used by your average high schooler who's bored with public school and is basically an autodidact. All people who are completeing one of these two methods still has to pass a standardized test to prove that they learned everything they need to get their high school certificate, and most if not all pass with flying colors.

This entire issue is about method #1, which is the traditional method of homeschooling - where a parent will spend the day at home with their children and teach them. In order to do this, a parent basically had to file as a private school institution - you have to maintain an attendance record, teach everything that is taught in a public school, file an affadavit every year that states what your child learned (and if they didn't, that means the parents can go to jail for both perjury and child neglect), the child has to be able to pass all of the state standardized tests for their various years, and then... here's the major issue - the educating parent/s have to be "capable of teaching".

Capable. Of. Teaching.

One judge decided to release a decision stating that being "capable of teaching" meant that they had to have a teaching degree, another thinks it means that you're using a syllabus planned by a public school, and others still come up with various crazy ideas.

One would think that the mere fact that a child keeps up with the same standardized tests used to certify people for all public schools would be enough to prove that they learn what the state feels they need to... Otherwise, why are standards at public school not more strict?

Obviously, I think it is hideously dumb that anybody would assume that you have to put the parent through such rigorous courses when the easiest way to settle the issue would be to see what the child has learned while homeschooled or is capable of learning on their own. A person can learn a lot more on their own or when a program is gagued specifically for them than they ever could from a public school, since public schools obviously tend to scale themselves down to the lowest common denominator around here. :/ And honestly, the lowest common denominator in California is complete illiteracy and constantly speaking broken English at the age of 16. :/

California public schools, even with the highest pay for teachers by state, the highest number of teachers, and the third-best ratio of kids to teachers, usually bottoms out the list in terms of actual results. :/ California public schools, honestly, are disgusting and I would never ever send a child of mine there. :O Obviously, however, constant private tutoring and college classes are not an option for many parents or students, so homeschooling is a good way to let children learn things on their own or with parental aid. Even with the occasional flubbups and bad side effects that come from letting people homeschool children who would be considered undesirable (such as crazy religious wackjobs or people who just actively neglect their children), the kids who choose to do what they want in order to learn are going to learn a lot more than they ever would in a public institution in this fair state. :O

I'm honestly still trying to figure out why this dumb state cares so much about whether a parent understands the *process* of teaching (read: has a teaching certificate) when it should be perfectly obvious to anyone that any parent who would put the effort into trying to personally educate their kids would know how to teach specifically *to the needs of a creature they've known for its entire life*.

:/ Seriously, wtf, California?

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