Prejudice Against Homeschoolers

As you read the news, if you see any reference to homeschool or kids who are NOT registered with the school system, which is becoming a common slight against homeschoolers, could you please send me a link to the news article? I am so tired of reading about cases where a child is being abused or neglected, but the poor kid was "never registered" with the local school system.

There was a major news story today about a woman who was sexually exploiting her children and broadcasting the video on the Internet. Here is a portion of the story with most of it edited out...

"A day later, Carr was arrested, and her four children — believed to range from 18 months to 5 years old — were taken into protective custody.
...
Town Manager Raymond Mersereau said local officials have no records of Carr, adding that none of her four children had been registered with school officials."

If you want to read the full article, you can find it here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527247,00.html

I've copied these two sentences for the simple reason of showing the ages of the children and a prominent statement in the article about the fact that the local official states that none of the children were registered with school officials. While this might seem like a simple statement and it might seem like I'm over-reacting, pointing out that a child isn't in school is becoming a common way for people to bring prejudice against homeschoolers. After all, compulsory attendance in Maine is age 7 (SEVEN!). So why would these people even point out the fact that these two and three year old children aren't registered? Even the five-year-old isn't of compulsory attendance age yet.

Anyway, watch out for these little punches against homeschooling. Our society is already largely prejudiced against homeschoolers and they place more stringent requirements on homeschoolers than other educators. When people start making comments that insinuate that parents who are committing horrible crimes against their children are keeping them at home on purpose, it really makes me irritated and I usually send a letter to the news affiliate or reporter. If you see anything like this, please let me know and I'd be happy to write them if you don't want to do so.

Thanks,
Sonya Haskins

www.thehomeschooladvocate.com