Judge orders homeschoolers into government school

Here's the article out of North Carolina.

Probably just an isolated freak case, but still troubling. It's hard to get a handle on the facts of this story because the article is so poorly written. It sounds as if the parents are divorcing and the mother has custody of the children; in which case, why is the judge involved in a decision about the children's education? If the father wants a say in how his kids are educated, maybe he should stay with the family and fulfill his duties as a father.

I'm amazed that anti-homeschooling hasn't yet become a cause celebre of the mainstream media. You can easily see how that would play out: exposes on a couple families where the children are "abused," concern about children learning "mainstream science" (i.e., macro-evolution and global warming), etc. Liberal legislators will try to pass laws against homeschooling "for the welfare of the child." The actual education aspect--the fact that, for example, these particular children tested two grades higher than their public school counterparts--will be swept under the rug. Because in the end it's not about the actual education; it's about government control.

Here's another article that expresses surprise that homeschool families are still committed to homeschooling even during this economic depression. Some mothers are working and homeschooling. (I actually expect a rise in homeschooling as some families decide they can no longer afford private Christian schools; we're seeing it already in our town).

If our family was forced at gunpoint (which is what a law is, really) to send our kids to public school, we would probably obey the law. But it wouldn't stop us from continuing to homeschool at night. I would just tell our kids to zone out during the day and we'll do school at home later. Until we become a full-blown communist state, there are plenty of ways to say, "Don't tread on me." If you're a homeschool parent, what would you do?