Are government schools offering a Trojan Horse?

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer...

In the two decades since Washington families successfully fought for the right to teach their children themselves, thousands of kids have been educated at their own kitchen tables. But in the last 10 years, homeschooling has quietly evolved.

Now, more parents are joining public school partnerships, or "alternative learning programs," to supplement their home lessons -- and more school districts are reaching out to them, offering such programs as the fast-growing Homeschool Resource Center in North Seattle....

Debbie Kyllo, who is homeschooling four of her children, said she enjoys being able to play such an active role in their education. When they're at the Homeschool Resource Center, she's able to sit in on classes and discuss academics with teachers, without feeling like she's interfering or pestering them. "I don't know if I would be that involved if they were going to another type of school," she said....

[Janice Hedin, a member of the Washington Homeschool Organization advocacy committee] and others who pioneered homeschooling in the state during the 1980s are dismayed at the number of families shifting away from true home-based instruction. They worry that districts are offering hybrid homeschool programs simply to lure students back into the public school system, to boost their enrollment figures and to receive more money from the state.

I know homeschooling can be hard, and offering help from government schools is sooooo tempting, but sometimes the strings you may never realize are attached to such offers are not worth it. Having said that, not all school districts are alike, and I've even seen some rural, out-of-the-way schools that have managed to fall beneath the ACLU and the NEA's radar and actually do a fairly good job at a decent education. So it's possible that such programs may be a sincere attempt to help. But remember there's a reason one of the most frightening sentences in the English language is, "Hi! I'm from the Government and I'm here to help!"

Posted by Danny Carlton at December 21, 2006 7:04 AM