I've seen some of these kids try to go to college. They are lucky if they graduate in some "soft" subject from a university that supports their worldview (for my nephew, he got a degree in History from a private conservative college, with very poor grades. His mom still thinks he's a genius).

For the most part, their experience mirrors that of a composite girl I'll call J. J, supposed by her parents to be Very Gifted, "graduated" from fundie homeschool at age 15. A well trained test taker, she did well on standardized testing and entered local university at age 16.

J got passed around as a sex toy at every frat party, whether or not she was drunk. It wasn't possible to know if these encounters were really consensual; she didn't know how to say "no" to anyone. She was withdrawn and did not show any signs of knowing what was happening to her. She failed all of her classes except for the throwaway ones like Freshman Comp.

Finding herself pregnant, J. did the Right Thing, or rather pursued the only course left open to her--she married one of her assailants and moved to the outskirts of town. She doesn't call the police when hubby gives her a black eye, either--after all you have to keep other people's prying eyes out of the all-sacred Family. She's sure she'll make up for all her mistakes--by homeschooling her own kids.

That's the real face of homeschooling, and Andrew, if you think this profile is atypical, I don't know where you've been living. If you think the fundie-Neocon cabal isn't behind 95% of homeschooling in this country and isn't relevant to the discussion (!!!!!), you are sadly mistaken.

You and the granola elites are huge exceptions. All you've done is let your wife take a couple of years off work to lay on the beach. It's nice for you, but it doesn't represent most of us. Please stop trying to justify your wife's Long Vacation by using your kids as a shield. As one poster pointed out, its the pearl-choker Beaver's mom crowd for a new decade. That's all.

Let's submit the homes and parents of homeschooled children to the same rigorous testing and credential requirements as public schools are now required to go through via No Child Left Behind (no, NCLB has not made public schools better, but that's another story).

No age appropriate education degrees among the teachers? No upgrades in the last few years? No science lab? Inadequate syllabi? No ability for the teachers to pass the test in all the subjects they are called upon to teach?

Hey, if homeschoolers can't meet all these requirements they should not be teaching children either. Now that's an idea I could get behind.

sounds as bitchy and defensive as she is. She reamed out her prof? Really? And "unschooled", you really think the prof was "sucking up" to your daughter when he was confused in the face of her aggression?

My God, you sound like a harpy. Just the sort I've been talking about--convinced your kids are total geniuses, even though probably nobody else in the world thinks so.

One thing is for sure--you gave them plenty of self esteem. Regular little narcissists you've turned out. Bleah. The more you write, the less appealing you sound.

I say this as a teacher who does write lesson plans--you are an insecure ball of anger, please let it go. And your daughter is going to write the next great Broadway play? Riiiiiight. Let us know when she wins her first Tony.

You're a loon, utterly captivated by the supposed preciousness of your brood. That's YOUR narcissism coming to the surface, darling, and your little Einsteins seemed to have learned that from you, if nothing else.

This thread is getting too long to be manageable, but I just had to point out one thing....

Alan asserts that to become concerned about home schooling after meeting an abused, indoctrinated homeschooled child (or several) is just like becoming concerned about your public school after a playground shooting (or several).

Um, actually, Alan, isn't this exactly what happens? Schools where the kids are shooting each other are investigated, dramatically altered, and sometimes shut down. Concern is perfectly appropriate. So is action.

If even only 50% of homeschooled kids are fundie pod children (and I think that the great majority are) then concern is appropriate, as is action to end the abuses of homeschooling. If even only 30% are being poorly served, or so on...then something still needs to be done.

There seem to be two groups of people here--those who care about kids, and those who care about their own "rights" including their supposed right to screw up the lives of their family members. The ones who seem to actually care about children are NOT the home schooling supporters.