Kerby Anderson

It was inevitable that the tragic case of the Turpin’s thirteen starving children found in filthy conditions would be used to question the value of homeschooling. Of course, this was abuse. And the abuse of the children happened because the laws in California concerning home schools allowed them to “hide in plain sight.” The vast majority of home schooling parents are doing a great job. But it is worth taking a look at the rules and regulations so that home schooling doesn’t turn into home fooling. A few changes in the law might be warranted. After all, the Turpins were able to do all of this under the auspices of the Sandcastle Day School, which was a name they created when they filed a private school affidavit. My concern, and the concern of many homeschool parents, is this obviously extreme case will be used to clamp down on homeschooling nationwide. Educators and legislators who don’t like homeschools can take this marginal case of abuse in a homeschool and push forward all sorts of restrictive regulations and legislation. An article in The New Republic ominously warns that “The Turpins Won’t Be The Last.” An op-ed in The Week talks about “The Sickening Danger of Home-Schooling.” These, and other articles, are a call to action for the educational establishment and legislators to pass new regulations and laws that can limit or even eliminate homeschooling within a state. Let’s also remind those ready to regulate homeschools of the ongoing problems in the public schools. Every few days, it seems, we hear of another scandal involving abuse or inappropriate sexual relations between teachers and students. It is also worth reminding those regulators that homeschool students routinely outperform public school students on the standardized tests many states now want homeschoolers to take. Let’s not use the tragic story of the Turpin family as a justification to over-regulate a homeschooling revolution that has become very successful.