Just a few thoughts on your ideas, some positive, some negative, some neutral.
Liberty Ferall wrote:1. Only allow families where both parents have at least a year of college (or perhaps two? or even a full BA?) to homeschool (and Bible college doesn't count - it has to be accredited).
At least two years of college for grades 1-8 (associate degree of some sort, basically).
At least a four-year degree for 9-12
This mimics in some ways the Catholic and several other religion-based private schools, which typically go 1-8 with the children typically going to public high school for 9-12. That system seems to work reasonably well and there is already a framework for it.
Parents who decide to homeschool should be able to acquire a two-year degree at a community college without a great deal of hardship. If, after 8 years (or whatever) they wish to continue homeschooling through high school then those first two years could be applied to a four-year degree. This would spread costs for educating the parents over a fair amount of time, which also allows for child care needs which I would count homeschooling to be part of.
2. Require all homeschool families to register with their state, providing information like number of children, their ages, etc.
Good idea. Homeschooling should not be a way of hiding children.
3. Provide a list of approved curriculum for each subject (this eliminates fundie textbooks).
As long as there is some actual choice in that curriculum, not solely 1 approved textbook per topic. For high school students (9-12) this might even be "from this list or a class in the same subject at a local college" which would certainly accommodate the very advanced students. It's not that unusual now for high school students in either public or private schools to do something like this (my public-school nephew took college-level math and computer science courses at University of Buffalo in New York starting around age 12 or 14). It might even be reasonable for there to be some tuition subsidy in such circumstances, as the option for early college could be an incentive to maintain high academic standards in the home school.
There might even be an opening here for "Associate's Degree in Homeschooling" that could be turned into a four-year education degree which would, incidentally, increase the pool of potential teachers in this country and provide a fall-back career for SAHP (stay at home parents) who are typically the ones doing the home schooling either in formal schools or as private tutors.
4. Require a certain number of classes in each subject for graduation (physics, U.S. history, etc). Obviously, approved curricula must be used. (If these requirements are all fulfilled, perhaps the student should receive an official high school diploma from the state).
I think we call that the "GED" right now.
(General Educational Development, also known as General Equivalency Diploma). Despite the reputation of the test in some places as not as good as a high school diploma test takers actually have to score better in tested skills than 60% of actual high school graduates so, in fact, it is
harder to pass the GED than to graduate high school.
(My Other Half took the GED due to being hospitalized too frequently his last two years of high school to keep up with classwork. He then went off to college. My two home schooled nephews took this test prior to applying for college. Five of my six uncles took this test as they were fighting WWII during what would normally be their high school years, and four them went on to get college degree afterwards. It's probably a more commonly taken option than most people realize).
Anyhow - yes, there is merit in requiring certain amounts of certain subjects to be taught, topped off by appropriate testing.
5. Require parents to turn in a curriculum plan before each school year. This should include what curriculum will be used for each subject for each child, etc. It must be approved, and may be rejected if it is inadequate.
If it is deemed inadequate, would the children then be forced into a public or private school? How many attempts at a submission for a given year are allowed? (I'm presuming that after an initial objection there would be at least one opportunity for revisions). Who judges the curriculum and by what criteria?
6. At the end of the year, parents must turn in portfolios for each child, showing that they completed what they said they would.
Great idea. What are the consequences if that doesn't happen or the work is inadequate? Who makes that judgment?
7. At the end of each year, homeschool students must take standardized testing, and it must be administered by a licensed teacher. If a student does not show a base line of academic improvement (and it may vary from subject to subject), he can no longer be homeschooled.
Does it have to be a licensed teacher, or would one of the many testing sites that already exist be adequate? For example, there are testing site that administer all sorts of tests - standardized educational testing, civil service exam, written pilot's exam - all in the same facility. Would that be acceptable? (Clearly, the site would have to have the capacity to administer the test)
8. I think it may also be beneficial to require that each family have a visit from a social worker each year, or once each semester. If the social worker determines that there is a problem, or finds that the kids are literally hermits, no social skills, etc, the family will no longer be allowed to homeschool.
Once every six months to examine the learning environment, study area, tools used, etc?
I think that the above would really crack down on religious nut homeschoolers. The only problem I see is that it might eliminate the ability for flexibility and working with each child at their own pace, which I see as a major boon of homeschooling.
I'm not sure how it would, so long as the criteria for judging the curriculum is also flexible. Perhaps the child is required to perform work in 4-5 mandated academic subjects (which need to be addressed anyway) but allowed X number of hours per day or week of "independent study". Such independent study might include the writing of papers/reports to satisfy language requirements, combing two subjects, as an example. Science study might also incorporate math (actually, it
should) If there is a civics requirement does it matter if that requirement is fulfilled in three weeks or over the course of a year? Providing there is adequate planning and the children are learning what they should I don't think flexibility is a bad thing.
(I still like my sister's idea of taking her boys to gather road kills, clean and mount the skeletons, and then use them to study biology, comparative anatomy, and evolution with a side trip into medicine and forensics while observing the signs of fatal injury in said skeleton)
Homeschooled children should, as part of their educational plan, ALSO have mandated group activities with other children and exercise activities (either solo, in a gym, or as part of a sport team) to ensure proper socialization and health.
