Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But if the parents are paying school taxes, they should be able to participate. Homeschooling is not about choosing to not be part of a community; rather, it's about choosing your child's curriculum and how it's structured.
Nope. I pay taxes for a lot of things I can't/don't use. Those parents opted their kids out. Students in school have to maintain a certain GPA and are part of the school. Participate in school, then you can participate in school activities. By your logic, a private school student who doesn't make the private school team can try out for the public school team. It doesn't work that way.
^^ Right. I think of homeschooling a bit like shopping. We aren't forced to buy all of our groceries at one store. Some might go to a butcher for meat and a farm stand for fruits and veggies. They might go to a higher-end grocery store for some items, while a discount store works just fine for things like laundry detergent and packaged items.
Others choose to go to a place like Walmart for everything, from produce to meat to pillows to shoes to cat food.
Neither approach is right or wrong. They're just different.
The first person isn't banned from going into Walmart because they choose to only use it for certain items, or because they only stop in occasionally to pick up milk and bread. The first person is also not forced to grow and raise all of his or her own food because they have opted out of using a one-stop superstore for everything. There are tons of options.
It's the same with homeschooling. I might choose to use the school-based program for math and send my kids in the afternoon to be on a soccer team, but maybe I send them to a private school to participate in their French Club after school, a science museum for their science and an art center for pottery. I might choose a DVD program for history and a computerized Chinese program. I might design my own English curriculum using resources found online and maybe I have a friend's parent, who used to be a gym teacher at the public school, teach my kids health and PE. It's not all about designing and teaching everything at home; it's about finding the best solution for each child and each subject.
That's why I'm not really a fan of the term, "homeschooling." I think it should be called "worldschooling" or "real-life learning" or just "education." In a perfect world, everyone would be able to choose from all of the options in the way that suits their family best. Unfortunately, that's not possible right now, for a lot of reasons.
You can certainly make those choices. But if you aren't playing by the school rules like most other kids are, you can't take part on the team. I won't even get started on the abuse that would happen among gungho sports parents whose kids GPA would keep them off the team.
Oh well, that's not the law works. At least not in my state. Homeschooled kids and charter school kids and, yes, even private school kids, can play for their local high school. Homeschooled kids can also often take drama class and other classes that require a critical mass to participate in (but that depends on the district).
Some states (Maine is one) allow homeschooled students to participate in anything at the public high school. I have a friend who has her kids in Spanish class, chorus and lunch. They can go to prom and other school dances and can participate in the school plays. I think this is the best of both worlds; the parents (or the kids) can use the services offered by the public schools however they want to. It makes it less of an "us" vs "them" thing and, instead, concentrates on the goal of education: educating the child in question.
Oh well, that's not the law works. At least not in my state. Homeschooled kids and charter school kids and, yes, even private school kids, can play for their local high school. Homeschooled kids can also often take drama class and other classes that require a critical mass to participate in (but that depends on the district).
Some states (Maine is one) allow homeschooled students to participate in anything at the public high school. I have a friend who has her kids in Spanish class, chorus and lunch. They can go to prom and other school dances and can participate in the school plays. I think this is the best of both worlds; the parents (or the kids) can use the services offered by the public schools however they want to. It makes it less of an "us" vs "them" thing and, instead, concentrates on the goal of education: educating the child in question.
I will continue to support my state not allowing it. Some places may be small enough for that to happen, but it's just a bad idea. I can see kids with bad grades being pulled out to homeschool so they can focus more on sports, I can see kid who make the private school team but aren't satisfied with their playing time heading to the public school for sports and then leaving if/when the private school coach needs them more. I can see kids not following the rules and then crying homeschooler discrimination when they are kicked off the team. I hope Florida is ready for that crap.
I really despise the idea that the public school is a pick and choose situation for some people. If the whole thing isn't good enough for you, then why take any part?
I think we were posting at the same time... but even though this is allowed in Florida, I don't think there's a huge problem of parents keeping their failing students at home so that they can participate on the school football team. In fact, I have never even heard of that. Granted, I also don't know any homeschoolers whose kids are football (or whatever) stars. There's only one teen at our local high school who participates on a team as a homeschooler, as far as I'm aware, and it's his first year dabbling in said sport; he's no superstar or anything. I think that this is not the problem you think it could turn into.
I will continue to support my state not allowing it. Some places may be small enough for that to happen, but it's just a bad idea. I can see kids with bad grades being pulled out to homeschool so they can focus more on sports, I can see kid who make the private school team but aren't satisfied with their playing time heading to the public school for sports and then leaving if/when the private school coach needs them more. I can see kids not following the rules and then crying homeschooler discrimination when they are kicked off the team. I hope Florida is ready for that crap.
I really despise the idea that the public school is a pick and choose situation for some people. If the whole thing isn't good enough for you, then why take any part?
We keep cross-posting. As for the bolded, though, why get crackers on sale at Walmart if you're not going to buy everything there? If the apples and chicken aren't good enough for you, why do you think it's okay to just go in for one thing?
And if it's pick and choose for me (and I live in your state, which I do not), then it can be pick and choose for you, too. No one is getting anything that you yourself can't take advantage of. (Unless they're in a state/district with different rules, in which case you're kind of out of luck.)
Florida has been doing this for some time, and I don't think there's an issue... Tim Tebow is one of the Florida homeschoolers who was actually a star player. The law started in 1996, so I think if there were going to be problems with it, they'd have started by now.
We keep cross-posting. As for the bolded, though, why get crackers on sale at Walmart if you're not going to buy everything there? If the apples and chicken aren't good enough for you, why do you think it's okay to just go in for one thing?
And if it's pick and choose for me (and I live in your state, which I do not), then it can be pick and choose for you, too. No one is getting anything that you yourself can't take advantage of. (Unless they're in a state/district with different rules, in which case you're kind of out of luck.)
Florida has been doing this for some time, and I don't think there's an issue... Tim Tebow is one of the Florida homeschoolers who was actually a star player. The law started in 1996, so I think if there were going to be problems with it, they'd have started by now.
Because they are kids and schools aren't markets. Tebow totally played the game - his parents even rented a small apartment in the town he wanted to play in...which is pathetic if you ask me. What the hell is he doing now by the way?
Of course you've never heard of any conflicts or can't imagine people abusing the situation. You homeschool and don't see how the public schools deal with this regularly. Students have to keep up their grades, behave well and normally do some community service (our's does). The idea of any student who isn't part of the school coming in and not having to play by the same rules just isn't right and it's insulting to public school students that they are used as a last resort. And while I'm not speaking of you, it's been my experience that homeschoolers come and go as they please and don't think the rules apply to them. My daughter has a girl on her soccer team that came from a very small private school (in public now) and the parents have no concept that being on time and working hard is part of the deal. At the same time, her parents are fighting the coach for her lack of playing time.
I will continue to support my state not allowing it. Some places may be small enough for that to happen, but it's just a bad idea. I can see kids with bad grades being pulled out to homeschool so they can focus more on sports, I can see kid who make the private school team but aren't satisfied with their playing time heading to the public school for sports and then leaving if/when the private school coach needs them more. I can see kids not following the rules and then crying homeschooler discrimination when they are kicked off the team. I hope Florida is ready for that crap.
I really despise the idea that the public school is a pick and choose situation for some people. If the whole thing isn't good enough for you, then why take any part?
ITA. They tell us we suck at educating kids and then tell us to educate their kids in the subjects they find difficult. Seems hypocritical to me. They're convinced they're superior in every way to teachers yet they then want to have teachers teach their kids the subjects they're too lazy to learn and teach BUT they still claim to be homeschooling. Go figure.
Not sending kids to public school is nothing personal against teachers. There are tons of reasons to homeschool and "bad teachers" is not a common one.
Not sending kids to public school is nothing personal against teachers. There are tons of reasons to homeschool and "bad teachers" is not a common one.
Then why send them to public school for classes the parent doesn't want to teach or sports? Do those reasons suddenly go away when it's time for Johnny to play basketball or Suzy to take chemistry?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At least not in my state. Homeschooled kids and charter school kids and, yes, even private school kids, can play for their local high school. Homeschooled kids can also often take drama class and other classes that require a critical mass to participate in (but that depends on the district). 
