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Q. 1. What is the Home Education Mailing List all about? 2. How can I contact individual subscribers who are in the same geographical area, or who have children the same age as mine? 3. Why do people choose to educate their children at home? 4. What is the difference between homeschooling and unschooling? 5. What are the regulations for homeschooling in my state? How many days/hours are you required to teach? At what age is my child required to attend school?

A. he Home Education mailing list is a forum for everyone interested in children learning at home. Many of us are parents or thinking about becoming parents. Some are not. Some of us are already educating our children at home, others planning to, others just curious. We come from all walks of life, from across the United States (and at least one person each from Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia), and from many different philosophical backgrounds. Everyone is welcome, as long as they are willing to engage in polite (if occasionally animated) discussion with people holding other beliefs. This is a place to share information, to ask questions, to discuss problems and successes; it is an electronic general store, post office, village green, or whatever metaphor you like, where people interested in educating their children come together. Children are welcome on the list. If your child is able to use a computer well enough to read our postings and respond, they are mature enough to participate in the discussion. We use the term "Home Education" to try to encompass all approaches to children learning at home, whether by schooling, child-directed learning or any other process. ase note that this service is completely separate from the Home Education Mailing List. You don't need to sign up with it in order to subscribe to the list, or vice versa. If you want to get in touch with other individuals directly, though, you should consider it. "1. Religious reasons -- people feel that schools do not address the spiritual issues and values that they want to convey to their children. In addition, schools do teach other ideas (e.g. evolution) that are at odds with their religious beliefs. "2. Schools are bad for kids -- These people also want to shield their children from the harmful effects of school, but not primarily due to their spiritual values. Often their children have tried school and have had bad experiences there. These parents have seen their children come home from school depressed, angry, feeling stupid. In earlier years, these same children used to be curious, energetic, and happy. Other times, parents don't even wait for school to have such deleterious effects. They never send their kids to school in the first place, knowing full well what will be in store for them. "3. Political beliefs -- Some people choose to homeschool because of their political beliefs, which tend toward libertarian or anarchist leanings. These people try to disengage themselves as far as they can from institutions of all kinds that encroach on their freedom. These families practice an ethic of self-reliance. They are frequently rural, back-to-the-land types, and frown not only upon schools, but also upon hospitals, prisons, the military, large corporations, and in general, most of the systems and institutions of industrial society. "4. Close Family -- Some people homeschool simply because they like their children too much to send them away on the school bus each weekday morning. They enjoy the company of their children and wouldn't dream of surrendering them over to some impersonal agency and deprive them of what they feel in a close, loving, nurturing atmosphere. "Note well, however, that these group are by no means distinct. There is considerable overlap among all four groups. There are also, to be sure, some major differences." "As I understand the way the Growing Without Schooling crowd uses the terms, unschooling refers more to the process of removing your child from school and overcoming the negative effects of the compulsory education process; homeschooling is the more general term referring to home-based learning. I'd love to come up with a better term than homeschooling, due to the implication that the child is spending all their time at home (see my comments on "socialization" below); but it's the best I've seen so far." "I have the Home School Manual, and the Home School Source Book. I would be happy to answer any queries regarding school age, required hours or other state regulations, as stated within these sources. The books are copyright 1990 but laws change pretty fast. However, it would be a starting point for a beginner. I don't know the legalities of actually putting the entire section here so I would hesitate to do that."

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