Homeschooling

I don't often post about this topic here... but it has come up recently and I'm just the kind of guy these days to shoot my mouth off about anything that makes the news. So here goes...
(I like ellipses... a lot)

It all started the other day when a random guy on the jobsite and I were talking about his recent trip to DC, how much we both enjoy it there, how much I think it is a great place for homeschoolers, the semi-recent non-homeschooler-who-claimed-she-was-homeschooling- until-her-kids-wound-up-dead, why legitimate homeschooling in DC now faces new restrictions... you know, normal office chit-chat. His response was something to the effect of, "Well, I think there should be some oversight."

"By whom," I asked, "the government?
"I guess." he replied.
"Whose kids are these? The parents' or the states'? Who has a more vested interest in the outcome?"
"You'd think parents would, but..." phone rings. "I've got to take this, but I'd like to talk more on this later."

Later that day I brought up the subject by asking him if he'd heard of the county in GA [Clayton County] that lost its accreditation. The kids graduating are facing challenges because colleges, scholarships, etc. If your school is bunk, they have to re-evaluate the assessment of the student they admitted.

"Yeah, I was thinking today about what you said earlier. I guess we don't need the government in more of our lives."

Well, that was easy.

With that on my mind, J shows me a couple of news articles she's come across during her computer time. Apparently This One is going to be an editorial project for C [keep a look-out on his blog], so I'm not going to post my opinion so I don't influence his. We want his own independent thought on it.

This Other One just makes me frustrated. I've got zero tolerance for zero-tolerance policies. The kid was a good student with no history and was deeply remorseful and crying when he found out what he did was against the rules. Suspended... two days. How dare you try to use a pencil sharpener after it is broken. That'll teach him to be, um, not-wasteful.

I'm not even going to link to the story of the 30 year old sex offender who posed as a seventh grader, but it's out there and you can find it if you like.

One teacher got creative and singled out her one muslim student as an example of a terrorist. Don't worry, she got reassigned to a different school. That'll certainly fix the problem. People worry about the lack of socialism for homeschoolers? I'm sure this event didn't mess this kid up at ALL. He's probably made LOTS of friends from it, since kids are so understanding and caring and nurturing.

So what am I left with? THIS STORY about 11 people arrested in FL for wearing baggy pants. (One was quoted as saying, I love this, "Your[sic] a cracker and ain't got s**t better to do.") Hey, I don't like seeing people's underwear either, but (pardon the pun) if they were wearing swim trunks underneath? It is FL. What if their pants sagged revealing they were on their way to the beach? Does the plumbers union have a problem with this? It was said that they had 2-5" of boxers showing. 2" is a waistband and a half. You've got to go a lot lower for plumber's crack and that doesn't even have boxers covering it.

However, that has little to nothing to do with homeschooling. I guess all I've got is this:

And now that you've seen that, I'd like to transition into this.