a sigh of relief

This was in my in-box this morning from HSLDA:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell comes to the defense of homeschool families. "The California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to homeschool in this state," he said.

After the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles ruled on February 28 that parents had to be credentialed teachers to educate their own children the statement from O'Connell is encouraging news for the homeschool community."O'Connell has it right," said Michael Farris, Chairman of HSLDA. "But the court decision must still be overturned before homeschool freedom can be restored in California."

The Court of Appeal ruling shocked the homeschool community because in one sweeping decision it effectively outlawed homeschooling."

We hope the statement from O'Connell puts the brakes on any enforcement action," said Farris. HSLDA will be pursuing several legal options, including seeking review by the California Supreme Court and petitioning the same court to depublish the opinion in order to return California to being a state where a family can legally homeschool in California without fear.

I had a sadistic thought during this whole crisis of giving a one-two punch to the whole idea that a teaching degree is somehow essential to teaching children by introducing legislation that requires every teacher, public, private, or home to take the National Teacher Exam for K-8 for free. Wouldn't it be interesting to see who scores the best, and who does the worst?

Now, I would never suggest this in real life, since you give these people an inch and they will twist it into a restriction on liberty, but it does make me grin. After all, homeschool parents are the ones in the trenches teaching children phonics, math, grammar, science, history, in depth and continuously from year to year. I didn't know anything about phonics when I took the NTE and did very well, imagine what I could do now after immersing myself in short and long vowels for 5 years?