My 10 year old got an airbook this year in 5th grade. He's doing well with it. He brings it home nightly. They are covered by insurance. If broken by negligence, there's a small deductable. My 6 year old has one in his class for 1st grade. It does not come home with him until 4th grade.

Yeah. We home school. In order to do that, my wife doesn't work. I make decent money, but it is still hard in a one income family. If they let me keep what I pay in property tax each year, it would cover a good portion of what we pay to teach the kids each year.

I also have a problem with some people home schooling. In my opinion, if you want to home school your kids, you should at least be able to pass test showing you are not a complete idiot. I know some people that pulled there kids so they could get a "better education". Only problem is the parents barely made it out of high school. WTF are they going to teach them? There was a secretary at my old law firm that was home schooling her high school aged son. Only problem, she worked full time. Explain that to me.

My taxes go to pay firemen's salaries. I have never needed a fireman, so I should get a refund for that too? Right, I mean if we are not using the services we pay taxes for, they should just give it back.

I agree with Clem but unfortunately with today's society being more about instant gratification instead of wisdom and being future minded I feel those that use it for good are now the minority.

Scott, if you want to exclude your home from fire coverage, then go ahead. Opt out and you don't get the service. Sounds good to me.

But I understand your point. A la carte' taxation will never work. The emphasis is that we who home school do it out of our own pocket, much like private school users do. I'm not asking for a "refund"...but I wouldn't turn it down either.

As a "serious" home school parent, I don't have an explanation on how that works for the good of the child when parents are "home schooling" without really investing heavily into WITH their kids.

However, there are many ways for a full time working parent to effectively home school. A high school kid doesn't need hand holding. Parents can select a book based curriculum and facilitate the instruction in a non-traditional fashion: Give student an assignment, let them work it out and study during the day, debrief in the evenings. This is the hard way. What a large % of people use for some if not all is DVD and online curriculum where the instruction is provided...distance e-learning model. There are cooperative classes where students get instruction by certified teachers or subject mater experts, then they do their homework at home until the next class.

As an example, I'd put up the Potter's School curriculum and teaching against the best school in America any day of the week.

So just because a parent barely made it out of high school or works full time, doesn't preclude them from being able to offer a good level of home based education. It takes thinking outside of the John Dewey educational institutional box.

Further I would suggest that the State of Alabama Department of Education and the Federal Department of Education really have zero business in education the way I see it. The responsibility and duty of educations begins and ends with the parents. If there are schools, they should all be locally based, operated and controlled on a voluntary basis as far as attendance in concerned. Where in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence or any of our founding documents and discussions does it lay out the plan for compulsory federal and state led institutional schooling? Well, that doesn't exist.

Modern institutional education is a failure in so many schools. It is all about test scores and getting federal dollars for programs. There is a great black hole in teaching critical thinking skills, problem solving, logic, argument-speech-debate, classic literature/creative writing, and the classical education principles of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato etc... Not to even mention nurturing the heart of a child in the values of integrity, good character, honor, virtue, goodness, Godliness, and discipline. These things I listed are not taught in the public institutions today, but for a hand full of very wealthy school districts. Only a small % of private schools subscribe to this too. The home school community and private classical schools are really the only places with any traction in these areas.

We live in a technological world. Teaching technology, advanced math and sciences are important and useful and helpful. Using Ipads and computers for instruction is great, if there are the appropriate safeguards. But when you couple technology with critical thinking/classical education that is from a character development platform....that is the apex of modern education.

Why the apex? You enable a child to reason, to think, to problem solve...you enable them to attain discipline and to develop the love/desire to learn. And when they are so equipped, they can master most anything they put into their sights to achieve. Today's modern schools (along with modern education philosophy)are missing that mark in abundance. Granted, there are some individual students that do learn at a deep level and do develop that critical thinking skill set, but I'd wager that they were so inclined at birth or have heavily active parents involved in their education.

Public Education in America has been taken over by the liberal Progressive Movement. It is a designed failure.

I think if you legitimately home school you should get a credit.

But if you do that, your homeschooled kids cannot participate in any school activity - band, chess club, team sports, spelling bee, nothing. Not a thing. Can't have it both ways.

How many homeschooled kids are allowed to participate in a public school extracirricular activity? I didn't realize that was even an option. However, if you are in close proximity to other homeschoolers, you can generally have your own activities, plus that of the city or county recreation leagues.

I think if you legitimately home school you should get a credit.

But if you do that, your homeschooled kids cannot participate in any school activity - band, chess club, team sports, spelling bee, nothing. Not a thing. Can't have it both ways.

How many homeschooled kids are allowed to participate in a public school extracirricular activity? I didn't realize that was even an option. However, if you are in close proximity to other homeschoolers, you can generally have your own activities, plus that of the city or county recreation leagues.

However, if you are in close proximity to other homeschoolers, you can generally have your own activities, plus that of the city or county recreation leagues.

Our school system is very good and the academic focus is intense. I was not required to do anywhere close to what my son has to do in school.
My wife is a kindergarten teacher. In the 15 years she has been teaching she says the shift towards more academics is crazy. When she first started, kids had to know the ABC and to go to first grade. Now, they expect children to be reading by the end of kindergarten.

You should not lump all public schools together. There are some public school systems in Alabama that are a LOT better than some of the private schools around. There are private schools that don't even require you to have a college degree to teach in them.

I also have a problem with some people home schooling. In my opinion, if you want to home school your kids, you should at least be able to pass test showing you are not a complete idiot. I know some people that pulled there kids so they could get a "better education". Only problem is the parents barely made it out of high school. WTF are they going to teach them? There was a secretary at my old law firm that was home schooling her high school aged son. Only problem, she worked full time. Explain that to me.

I know people like you that really teach their children's and they are the majority. But, you can not say there is not a lot of people who are teaching nothing and have no business trying to teach anything.

The secretary in my office didn't teach him anything. She pulled him from school so he could ice skate all day. She knew he was going to win a gold medal.

I know of two couples who are home schooling their kids that absolutely teach them nothing. One of them has a son Will's age. They talk about how smart he is. He can tell you every great full dead song, phish song or Beatles song, but he couldn't write a sentence, do a math problem or tell you any presidents before their Hero Obama.

How many homeschooled kids are allowed to participate in a public school extracirricular activity? I didn't realize that was even an option. However, if you are in close proximity to other homeschoolers, you can generally have your own activities, plus that of the city or county recreation leagues.