# How is Home Schooling monitored and evaluated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926 "2018-01-18T22:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/41 "2018-01-21T00:12:30Z")
In Ohio, substitutes need to be licensed, but the license is very easy to get: The only requirements are a bachelor’s degree (in anything) and a clean background check. There are also subject-specific licenses for long-term subs (I’m long-term licensed in physics and math), which do require proof of content knowledge, but they’re not necessarily required (my longest job was for a class I wasn’t technically long-term licensed for, but I was able to prove to the principal’s satisfaction that I had expertise in the (relatively uncommon) subject material). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/42 "2018-01-21T16:06:32Z")
Homeschooling is a refuge for antivaxers, since their kids don’t have to get the vaccinations required for public school attendance. One prominent antivaxer this past week [suggested that the Turpin case was fabricated](https://leviquackenboss.wordpress.com/2018/01/19/are-the-california-homeschooling-turpins-for-real/) by pro-vaccine forces (“advocacy groups”, the media, you name it) in order to facilitate a crackdown on homeschooling and force the kiddies to get their shots. :smack: > [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Homeschool laws by state](https://hslda.org/laws/), with map showing which states require what level of regulation. Please note that states with low and no regulation seem to predominate. A new frontier for homeschooling seems to be “electronic classrooms”, where the kids don’t have to rub up against Undesirables, and attendance/accountability varies between optional and limited. Case in point: Ohio’s Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), which shut down this past week after a scandal erupted over its collection of huge amounts of money from the state of Ohio for undocumented education online (one year, supposedly about 70% of students qualified as truant on review). The founder of ECOT enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, while lavishing close to a million dollars on donations to ECOT-friendly politicians over a recent five-year period. > **[Ohio Republican Party returns big donations to ECOT officials](https://www.cleveland.com/open/2017/08/ohio_republican_party_returns.html)** > > The Ohio Republican Party has returned a pair of large donations from two top officials at an embattled company that operates Ohio's largest online charter school. Homeschoolers have their own political action committees/funds and a bevy of sympathetic legislators. They claim their political spending is only a tiny fraction of what teachers’ unions donate, which is likely true - but it’s difficult to ascertain just what that spending amounts to, and how much it has damped down efforts to hold homeschooling parents accountable for their kids’ education. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/43 "2018-01-21T20:21:37Z")
I homeschooled my son in Minnesota for a year in 9th grade. We had to inform the district he was being homeschooled. I had to have a bachelors degree. He had to take a standardized test (He took the ACT). Because I was interested in getting him back in school (he fell in with a bad crowd in middle school), I made sure to follow the district curriculum as much as possible. I had to keep all my records, the state reserved the right to audit me (I don’t think they ever do). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/44 "2018-01-21T20:45:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I homeschooled my son in Minnesota for a year in 9th grade. > > We had to inform the district he was being homeschooled. I had to have a bachelors degree. He had to take a standardized test (He took the ACT). Because I was interested in getting him back in school (he fell in with a bad crowd in middle school), I made sure to follow the district curriculum as much as possible. I had to keep all my records, the state reserved the right to audit me (I don’t think they ever do). How long ago was this? According to the link I previously provided Minnesota is listed as a “Low Moderation state”, and > [@](#): > > In order to teach children in Minnesota, a person must be “qualified.” **Parents teaching their own children are automatically qualified**. (bolding mine) Also, while > [@](#): > > The required subjects are reading, writing, literature, fine arts, math, science, history, geography, economics, government, citizenship, health, and physical education. There is no specific requirement in Minnesota law for how often each of the subjects must be taught or at what grade levels. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/45 "2018-01-21T23:31:09Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > You of course have evidence for all these assertions about public schools doing a lousy job, don’t you? I never said public schools do a lousy job. I said their success or failure differs wildly depending on your opinion about what their purpose is. If you go looking for criteria to judge public school as lousy, you can find that. If you go looking for criteria to judge them excellent, you can find that too. The one area where I said public schools “fails miserably” is **IF** you believe that their purpose is to “separate truth from falsehood, producing graduates who can spot con artists and tell the difference between science and hoaxes”. Surely you would agree with me that people are really bad at that, judging by how many millions will fall for bullshit day after day. Pick any random 1,000 American adults and ask them which of the following statements are true: 1. The moon landing was a hoax. 2. The bible has no mistakes in it, not even typos. 3. We found WMD in Iraq. 4. You can catch cold by going outside in the winter time with wet hair and/or no jacket. 5. Vaccines cause Autism. 6. You can balance an egg only at the Equinox. All six of these are false. But the average American thinks at least one or two of them are true. And I’m barely scratching the surface here. Pick any page off of [www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) and see how many people know if it’s true or if it’s false. I am not saying that Americans are worse at spotting bullshit than people in the rest of the world. I’m not saying it’s public school’s fault that we are bad at it. I’m saying that IF public school’s purpose was to produce people who can spot bullshit, and if public school did a really good job at that purpose, then people who went to public school ought to be really good at spotting bullshit, and we aren’t. But there are plenty of other criteria you can use to judge public schools where they do an excellent job. Which criteria you want to use is largely a matter of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/46 "2018-01-22T00:05:28Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > And if the state were foolish enough to pass a law shutting down schools which don’t meet benchmarks, they’d end up closing some of their own public schools in the process. I’m not sure if that’s such a bad thing. There are many really horrible public schools out there, and they should be accountable, and if such a school fails, the children may have to be transported to better public schools. Any type of school should be accountable. I don’t think a school is just a place to get an education, either. It’s a place to develop social skills and meet people who aren’t like yourself. As a result, I’m generally opposed to religious schools, ethnic schools, boys only or girls only schools, and home schools. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/47 "2018-01-22T00:20:53Z")
I don’t see any reason there shouldn’t be testing. I know you have to take your GED to actually count as graduating high school (as my homeschooled friends in college told me), but I see no reason they couldn’t have other such tests, and just have to schedule some time in a local college or something to take it while being monitored for cheating. That said, I’d say that every single homeschooled student I met had socialization problems and always came off as weird. But, then again, that could be my own bias for the type of people I liked hanging out with. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/48 "2018-01-22T01:14:45Z")
Imagine, never setting foot in a public school until the day you walk into Harvard! [HERE](http://www.businessinsider.com/homeschooling-is-the-new-path-to-harvard-2015-9) is an article about a homeschooler going to Harvard. Granted, few homeschoolers (less than 1%) go to the Ivy league schools but it does happen. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/49 "2018-01-22T01:23:38Z")
Ummm… ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/50 "2018-01-22T01:31:46Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d say that every single homeschooled student I met had socialization problems and always came off as weird. But, then again, that could be my own bias for the type of people I liked hanging out with. Quite possibly, they started out with socialization problems as toddlers and they would stay that way regardless of what school you sent them too. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/51 "2018-01-22T01:40:09Z")
Then there is the [UNSCHOOLING](http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/earl_stevens.html) idea. basically you let the kid pick the curriculum. So if they want to do art all day, they do art. If they want algebra, they do algebra. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/52 "2018-01-22T01:42:22Z")
We’ve homeschooled our three kids from the beginning (one is now in college, one is dual enrolled, and one is 14). These threads are always difficult for me because 1) I see a lot of things I disagree with, but jumping in always feels like a battle, and 2) I compare the homeschoolers I know (maybe 70 or 80) to freak shows like the Turpins, or any of those Quiverful nuts, and I know that homeschooling works great where I personally experience it, but is failing kids horribly in some places. I do believe that homeschooling needs some sort of social service interaction, or checkpoints, but I’m not sure what that looks like. The Home School Legal Defense Association (referenced earlier in the thread, though not by name) is a bunch of right-wing evangelical, lawyered-up nuts who have successfully fought any kind of oversight, and I don’t understand how it succeeds, though I’ll note that in some states they fit right in (e.g. Texas). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/53 "2018-01-22T01:43:27Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Then there is the [UNSCHOOLING](http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/earl_stevens.html) idea. > > basically you let the kid pick the curriculum. So if they want to do art all day, they do art. If they want algebra, they do algebra. Unschooling is an example of the nuttiness I can’t stand. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/54 "2018-01-22T14:18:15Z")
What some on this board do not realize is some people really have no choice but to homeschool. Not everyone lives in a good public school district or can afford private schools. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/55 "2018-01-22T14:23:44Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > What some on this board do not realize is some people really have no choice but to homeschool. Not everyone lives in a good public school district or can afford private schools. I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who are sufficiently knowledgeable enough about the various subjects to adequately homeschool past, say, the 6th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/56 "2018-01-22T14:33:01Z")
Yeah, the only reason my mom was even considering homeschooling me is that she’s a teacher, and even then, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up in some subjects. Of course, there are a lot more resources available now than there were then, thanks to the Internet, but not all homeschoolers take advantage of them. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/57 "2018-01-22T14:39:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who are sufficiently knowledgeable enough about the various subjects to adequately homeschool past, say, the 6th grade. And yet home-schooled students whose parents put forth an organized effort seem to do as well, or better, than those in public education. So apparently there are more than you expect. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/58 "2018-01-22T14:44:52Z")
The school district assigns your kids to a school based on your address. My 2 daughters went to schools that were reasonably safe. There are schools in my city that I wouldn’t want my kids in. It doesn’t take long for a school to get a reputation as too dangerous and too much drug dealing. Drugs are in every school, but they are more openly available in bad ones. Private schools, homeschooling or moving your family to another part of the city are the only options. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/59 "2018-01-22T14:49:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > And yet home-schooled students whose **parents put forth an organized effort** seem to do as well, or better, than those in public education. So apparently there are more than you expect. > > Regards, > Shodan And what percentage is that? Any reason you couldn’t be bothered to cite your claim? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/60 "2018-01-22T14:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **aceplace57** : > > It doesn’t take long for a school to get a reputation as too dangerous and too much drug dealing. Which quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the parents who care take efforts to get their kids out of that school in some way or other, and so the ones who are left are disproportionately the ones whose parents don’t care. Positive feedback loops are always a problem, anywhere where they occur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926.md?page=4)