If you have been following the news lately, you have heard of the Turpin family. This was a family located in California. They also happen to homeschool. The 17 year old daughter recently escaped their home and called 911 to report the abuse her siblings were suffering. Upon entering the home, police officers found children chained to furniture, completely malnourished and living in filth. Six of the children in the home were said to be adults, one in preschool and six were school aged. The home was registered as a private school in California with the father being the principal.
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According to the law, there are three ways to register as a homeschooling family in California. This family had legally registered their homeschool as a private school and mailed in the necessary paperwork yearly. Even though they followed this law, they were abusing their children. This has led many to lump homeschooling families together and call for tougher laws for these families. California politician Jose Medina is one of those requesting more regulations so that he can insure this will not happen again. He believed they were able to do this because the children were hidden from the public. Under current California law, the California Department of Education does not monitor, inspect or oversee private schools.
I already can tell just from reading about regulations in California that their rules for homeschooling are more strict than other states. For example, to homeschool in Texas, you simply need to pick a curriculum and begin schooling your children. There is no paperwork you need to fill out, no checking in that needs to be done, essentially there is nothing unless your child was already in a public school. If that is the case, you simply write the district a letter letting them know you will be in charge of the child’s education. A friend of mine would homeschool in Pennsylvania and she would have to create a portfolio for her son each year to be evaluated by a teacher in the district to make sure he was on course with the rest of students his age.
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The problem here is not the homeschooling laws, but instead it is the abusive families. One does not need to punish all homeschooling families because of one bad apple (or potentially many bad apples)! We cannot all be held guilty by association just because we are all lumped in one category of families who homeschool. The problem does not get better by requiring families to check in regularly with CPS, open their homes for surprise inspections or randomly interrogate children about their family life.
The Turpin family had two demented adults at the head. They were able to hide the fact of their abuse from family members in other states. They knew just what to do to stay hidden from the public eye, because they did not want to be found out. Tougher regulations on their family, or others like them, would not necessarily insure that no other child would be abused at home by their parents. Abuse happens just as likely at public schools, by teachers (hello Mary Kay Letourneau), at churches, with friends, and the list goes on and on.
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Homeschooling is a right that we must protect. Millions of children worldwide are homeschooled because their parents have made a decision to remove them from public school and take an invested interest in their education. There are many reasons parents do this. Most parents who do this are deeply involved and interested in their children, knowing that they love them more than any teacher ever could, so they truly have their best interests at heart. As a former public school teacher, I know now that my children are receiving a better and more well-rounded education than they would have in public school. I cannot even imagine sending them to public school.
Adding extra requirements would not do anything but take away time that these parents should be investing in their children and their education. Allowing CPS or another party to enter each home and evaluate them is definitely not the answer! Abusers will find a way around any law that is put out there. Extra regulations on families would make it impossible for some to continue to homeschool their children. This is a right we cannot allow to be taken away.
Articles:
Will the Turpin Family Tragedy Result in a Double Tragedy?
California Torture Family: How 'home schooling' covered up Turpin House of Horrors abuse
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