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Private schools and charter schools work well too.

I was a product of the public school system myself and I'd have to say; even though I love my parents to death....they were not smart enough to teach me pre-college algebra.

Home schooling is great for a "liberal arts" education, reading, writing, etc...but the hard sciences require a bit more in the credentials department than I think the average person has.

Dave I disagree. Any parent with the discipline to take on the job can find materials and instructors, including Q&A by email, in order to teach the sciences with great success, especially at the grammar and high school levels. The parent has instruction materials that they study ahead of time and can learn along with the child making the experience a learning adventure they share together. Some Homeschooling parents group with others and support each other, often the background diversity of the group serves to fill some of the gaps an individual parent may have. Resources abound in this day and age and, homeschoolers must meet requirements just like any public school child in order to move on.

According to the information posted on the Alameda Unified School District website, there is NO homosexual curriculum for 5 year old children. Or for first or second graders either. The lessons cover things such as inappropriate language and name calling. Looks like they might cover LGBT issues with older students when they discuss each child's family members. Kids are going to hear about homosexuals anyway, they should learn it in a responsible way.

I am very glad that my parents DIDN'T home school me. My folks kicked my butt out the door every morning and taught me to go and make my own way if life. I walked or rode my bike to school. I learned responsibility and how to deal with difficult people at an early age.

The thought of parents coddling their kids at home till they are teenagers makes me cringe.

Well, 468 is only about 10 percent of total enrollment, and you just can't have any malicious 10 percent dictating public policy, now can you?

America is a great country ... where bigotry is taught at home, and not in the public schools.

This comment is for Jim: The information in the article is correct. The course for the curriculum begins in Kindergarten and continues all the way through high school. Did you actually believe you'd get the full story on the Alameda School Board's Web Site?

Bruce, would you mind listing a source for your claim? You mention USA Today for your first article, but none for the second.

Tina,

Yes, the materials are out there. So are the materials for college and yet people drop out of college too. Some of them even have kids later.

See my point? I wouldn't say homeschooling is a bad thing, but there are a few challenges. Social development (interaction) is another.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm ripping on homeschooling. I think it's a great option, and for some people it's the BEST option. It's not without it's own challenges but a good hardworking parent CAN overcome them.

Social interaction isn't a problem for most homeschoolers, they get plenty of it at church, sports and other organizational functions. Homeschooling is obviously not something everyone would choose to do.

I imagine that those parents who are not suited to teaching or the discipline required are also not likely to choose home schooling.

There will always be children with less than perfect parents...some of them even went to college...lol!

In response to K -- The news article was written by reporter Chelsea Schilling who works for World Net Daily published May 28th

"In response to K -- The news article was written by reporter Chelsea Schilling who works for World Net Daily published May 28th"

Ah, then it must be true, since it is from such a reputable and unbiased source. Seriously, I really hope this is not where you get most of your news from.

However, a quick internet search shows that this article is true--yet I don't see anything offensive about it.

Your article merely refers to the program as a "homosexual curriculum." I don't even know what that means, and you never attempt to define or elaborate what you mean here, which either shows extreme laziness or a desire to use vague scare tactics in lieu of any actual analysis. Either way, it shows a severe lack of respect for your readers. Seriously, when WND is showing more journalistic ethics then you, that's when you know you need to work on your craft.

So what is this "homosexual curriculum" of which you speak? Well, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "The topics the board approved start at the lower grades with the negative impacts of generic teasing. As students advance, the lessons introduce vocabulary such as gay, lesbian and bisexual, and include discussions related to diverse families and sexual orientation stereotypes."

This is not a "homosexual curriculum," this is, as the SF article calls it, an "anti-bully curriculum." The article also reports that "Teachers will begin to use the words "lesbian" and "gay" in fourth-grade classes," so the "young as 5" thing is not entirely true.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/27/MNUH17R9K4.DTL

No parent can choose for their child to opt out of this program because it is not at all related to health or sexual education. "Some boys like boys" has nothing to do with sex, any more than "Most boys like girls" has to do with sex.

It is not a violation of your religious freedom for the school to teach your kid not to bully certain people. A good parent would actually consider this a favor.

You don't know anything about how this program will be implemented yet. It could be your worst fear--that teachers will start saying that homosexuality is just as valid as heterosexuality, and there won't be anything you can do about it--or it could simply be an anti-bullying program, and the most that kids will learn about gay people is that they exist and deserve to be treated with respect, which does not challenge Christianity at all. But like I've said before, schools already teach many things that religious parents don't agree with, like evolution. You will still be able to teach them whatever you want at home.

But right now, the gay kids at school who are beaten beaten and murdered are more important than your petty need to control your child's every thought. Get it?

Thanks Mr. Sessions,

Although I don't agree with every point you made, I appreciate your support.

We homeschooled our kids not because we are elitists who don't want them mixing with weirdoes, but because we didn't want some strangers spending more time with our kids than us. We see other people who spend less than 5 hours a day with their kids, and that seems wrong to us.

I am a housewife and my husband is a carpet layer. You don't need a degree to teach your kids how to read and write, and once they've got that, just try holding them back. My little one had a hard time with reading and spelling until he became a baseball fan - now he just digests articles about baseball, bicycling, golf, anything he wants to learn about. And his math skills took off as soon as he was given work for money.

When our older son was 15, he went to Butte College and passed the entrance exam. I was no math brain, but we got him through it. He has since passed his English and math requirements with A's. But he also spent time during his childhood on the job with his dad, learning how to make money out of sweat. Now, at 18, he's got a job to help pay for college. He's a good, respectable kid, and we're proud of him.

We have fun with homeschool. One day we were studying volcanos, so we got out an old recipe of my grandma's and made chocolate Volcano cake. We also made one of those salt gardens, put a top on it, and grew ourselves a cavern like we had seen up in Calaveras County, with stalagtites and everything.

Now, that's the important part - with homeschool, you do what you want, where you want, when you want. We turn every lesson into a family outing, every family outing into a lesson. At our house, we do school 24-7.

See, we had kids because, we wanted kids. I feel sorry for people who think they need somebody else to raise their kids.