When parents decide to homeschool and then inform their districts, they may be met with hostility and sometimes suspicion, but nearly always they are met with rules and regulations. Each state and sometimes each district may respond differently to homeschooling families--some more supportively than others.

From the homeschooling parents' point of view, the governmental hoops are set up by distrustful, powerful agencies hungry to keep as many tax dollars as possible flowing into a budget based on enrollment. To the public school administrators, the responsibility to follow each child's welfare can put them on an adversarial track with parents who view their children's education as a privacy and family right.

Some school districts are creating bridges that allow homeschooled children access to school services on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has published its concerns regarding homeschooling.

Parents who are about to embark on homeschooling might use this list as a catalyst to get involved in homeschooling groups and resources to offset these potential issues.

NAESP ASKS PARENTS TO CONSIDER THAT HOMESCHOOLING MIGHT:
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences

2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups

3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials

4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons

5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws

6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality

7. Violate health and safety standards

8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs

Student advocate Janet Barber is a guidance counselor with nine years experience integrating homeschooled children into the public middle schools. She is concerned by the below-par test scores of homeschooled kids who are returning to public middle school. She consistently finds that these children are behind in reading, math and science proficiency. "It is a struggle to catch up, let alone excel within your peer group...which can complicate an already difficult readjustment socially."

To avoid any unpleasant surprises, Barber suggests that parents who are considering homeschooling their middle and upper school teens, contact local colleges regarding admissions policies for homeschooled students. In addition to placement testing in reading, writing and math, some colleges require a minimum score on a GED test. The entry requirements for your child's college of choice should be researched long before a homeschooled child's junior year.

Janet warns, "Great parents will do a great job homeschooling because they will bend over backwards to do a great job." Some parents may be unprepared for the intensity of homeschooling and the amount of curriculum, which they must first learn, then teach, especially in the upper grades.