http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,42624,00.html Interesting article. I don't homeschool but, I think if you pay school taxes, you and your children should have the same benefits as everyone else in the community. I'll be watching this one.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), January 09, 2002

Answers

Kathy, Can you be more specific. I can't get the story to come up and we do homeschool!! Thanks

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), January 09, 2002.

Loved it!!!! In KY we have loads of taxes specifically for schools. I don't know if the schools allow homeschoolers to participate or not (Mine aren't interested). But if I have to give them my money I think my kids should be welcome. That's OK though. Someday homeschoolers will rule the world and everything will be much better then:)!!!!

-- Lou Ann in KY (homes_cool@msn.com), January 09, 2002.

My friends homeschool and I think they are doing a better job than the schools. In addition, a well kept secret is that the first two years of college tuition at a state college are free for homeschoolers to make up for the savings they gave the state for homeschooling k-12.

Also, a few years ago, the home schoolers took the schools to court as they wanted to use sports facilities and participate in after school activities like football and swimming. The courts sided with the homeschoolers and make it mandatory for the school districts to support home schoolers in this area.

Good luck.

-- Gary from Mn (hpysheep@midwestinfo.com), January 09, 2002.

I homeschooled 4 ...My preacher did 12 ! There are enough community "privatized sports things - dont worry about the gov. school stuff. ALL 16 of the above are college grads now. I Have 2 families of homeschoolers in my 4 -H Club now, there's no comparison. PS I taught in gov. schools for 32 yrs. Goats, pigs, & chickens are smarter than administrators.

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), January 09, 2002.

I agree with Gary, although in our area you can get free community college if you are still in high school when you do it.

Some districts even bend over backwards with separate buildings, computers and so forth but they then put all sorts of demands on you, so many homeschoolers in our area tend to avoid those programs--not worth giving up their educational freedom, in their words.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 09, 2002.

Yes it seems unfair that we as homeschoolers can't use what our taxes are paying for, but we have CHOSEN to homeschool. Therefore, keep the public school out of your schooling plans. The group we belong to, The Wisconsin Parent Association (www.homeschooling-wpa.org) has always indicated to their members that any ties with the public system would be regressive for homeschoolers. They are correct on this one.

Many people have been fighting for homeschooling since the early eighties, with some even before that. Folks, don't blow it now by demanding that your kids are allowed to participate in some activity or class at a public school. By using public schools for anything we give them power and authority over us and this is not something that we can tolerate. Keeping homeschool and public school completely seperate is necessary for homeschooling to survive.

Think hard about this. My children were homeschooled without ANY help or interference from the public school system. I want my grand children to enjoy the same freedom.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), January 09, 2002.

Blast!! I live in the wrong place evidently. We have an "all 12 years" homeschooler who is now a junior in a state college and we had to pay the whole amount. Drats, foiled again. I do object to the fact that we pay a whale of a big amount in property taxes to support the public school system and get nothing but I really don't want the state messing with our homeschool privilege, so I guess it's just one more expense

-- Rosalie (Dee) in IN (deatline@globalsite.net), January 10, 2002.

Hmm, I have a different opinion. While I plan on homeschooling, if my school district offers facilities for homeschooled kids to use, I plan on taking advantage of them at least to the minimum level neccessary for the school to be able to claim the child on its enrollment levels.

I support public schools, and feel their funding should be adequette to the level they may be required to support. Receiving funding after the school year begins doesn't help prepare for it, so I'd rather they receive that funding all year long, regardless of whether I am opting out or not.

I pay my school taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes and I want them flowing into my community, not out.

The danger, as I see it, is coming to DEPEND on those school facilities. If you depend on them, than the school can attempt to coerce you by denying the facilities. Wheras if you don't depend on them, you can coerce the school by threatening to stop utilizing them thus denying them funding.

-Gary

-- Gary Mort (gary.mort@ool.wd1.net), January 10, 2002.

But Gary, while I see your point, I would respectfully disagree.

This is what can happen. Say you take advantage of computer time at "the homeschoolers' computers". The school will want to know how many hours "so it can budget time accordingly", to start. Then they will come up with "we need so many hours put in to justify keeping this place open", so they will start "requiring" you to put in those hours.

Same with "oh, we have homework help from teachers available to you." If they don't require you to take the standardized tests as a stay-at- home homeschooler (as opposed to part-time or alternative), well, once you set foot on the school grounds, to take advantage of what should be your right (I am not arguing that point at all), you can just about count on them then requiring the tests, because how else (in their minds) are they going to evaluate the services they are providing you? Bad road to go down, although I would make exceptions for things like driver's ed, but a lot of schools are phasing that out these days anyway.

So, it's a hard choice, but I would rather err on the side of opting out completely, especially if one of the reasons you're homeschooling is so as NOT to be tied down to a school schedule.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 10, 2002.

We've always homeschooled. This year the school district is offering to let homeschoolers make the plans for using school facilities & pay for phys ed (includes Taekwon-Do, dance, gymnastics, etc) and private music lessons. I'm all for it. It's supposed to start next fall.

A near-by town has had a similar set-up for a couple of years & every one seems happy with it.

I figure if we get involved & decide we don't like it, we can always quit. In the first planning meeting I made the point that one reason we homeschool is so we are not slaves to someone else's schedule. The superintendent seemed to understand. He knows a lot of homeschoolers.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), January 11, 2002.

My point was that your 'school' taxes pay for WAY more than 'schooling' and you and your children should have access to those perks, should you chose to. Overnites, museum trips, computer labs, library access, sports. If you pay rent or property taxes, you are paying for those perks-take advantage of the best of it.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), January 11, 2002.

here in North Dakota, the schools automatically get half per homeschool child of whatever they normally get for a full time in- school student. We then have the choice of using facilities or not. We can use the library, recieve special teaching stuff like my daughters time with the speech pathologist as she would have at school,join any school sport team, even come in during music classes (but that would be during that grades scheduled time). This money also pays for the teacher supervisor we are required to have the first 2 years we homeschool and any testing.

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), January 30, 2002.