Home Schooling

They have the thinnest skin, the shortest fuses and take the hardest knocks. In psychiatrists' offices, they have long been viewed as among the most challenging patients to treat. They are the kind of people who drive a friend away for interfering and subsequently berate that friend for abandonment. But almost 20 years after the designation of borderline personality disorder as a recognized mental health condition, some understanding and hope have surfaced for people with the condition and their families.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Friday for the reversal of a recent appellate court decision banning parents from educating their children at home if they lack a teaching credential. If the state Supreme Court fails to act, the governor vowed to push through legislation guaranteeing families' right to home school. "This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will," he said in a written statement.

Advocates urged a state appellate court Monday to overturn a decision that severely restricted the ability of California parents to educate their children at home, saying family-based schooling works for hundreds of thousands of children. "You cannot deny parents the right to do good for their kids," said Michael P. Farris, representing the Home School Legal Defense Assn. in Virginia. "Anything that causes children to suitably learn, that should be encouraged." A Feb.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee calls his cadre of loyal volunteers "Huck's Army." And one of his premiere battalions is a tight network of Christian home-schooling families who view the campaign as a civic -- and educational -- duty. Huckabee has spent roughly $400,000 campaigning in Iowa and has hired enough full-time workers in recent months to put his statewide staff into double digits.

Re "Ruling hits home schooling," March 6 I beg to differ with California 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice H. Walter Croskey, who wrote, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children." It's my understanding that the Constitution grants the government only specifically enumerated powers, and all powers not specifically granted to the government are retained by the people. Unless Croskey can cite where the Constitution grants the government the power to teach our children, that power is retained by us. Robert Westcott Alhambra -- What does the appellate court propose the public school system do with these 160,000-plus kids?

There is plenty to debate about home schooling, but a new court ruling managed to avoid all reasonable disagreements and instead used a single example of possible child abuse to throw the book at tens of thousands of home schoolers throughout California. The 2nd District Court of Appeal was asked to require the parents of eight children to send them to a regular public or private school, where their welfare could be monitored. A lower court had ruled that the parents had a constitutional right to home school their children.

Re "No ban on home schooling," March 12 Regarding California Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell's policy of allowing home schooling for parents who merely file the private school certificate: How will California be able to enforce the compulsory education laws if he removes himself from the leadership and support of the school districts, county superintendents and county child welfare departments? Because private schools are unregulated in this state, and home-schooling parents do not even need to worry about free-market forces demanding some basic quality level for teaching and education, isn't his position an all-out abdication of his sworn duty to ensure that every child in this state be provided an education?

Re "Defending home-style ABCs," April 3 In articles about the latest ruling affecting home schooling, I have not seen anything mentioning what a parent would have to do to obtain a credential. I home schooled my daughter for more than two years. It was a wonderful experience, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided I might enjoy earning some extra money as a substitute teacher. I don't believe I had to do anything more than take the California Basic Educational Skills Test and get fingerprinted.

The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson Edited and with an introduction by Rudolph P. Byrd Modern Library: 322 pp., $15 paper This collection of poetry, fiction, criticism, autobiography, political writing and two unpublished plays by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) spans 60 years of pure triumph over adversity. Johnson, born nine years after the Emancipation Proclamation, wrote during what Charles Johnson in his foreword calls "the most entrenched period of American apartheid -- the 1920s and '30s," through the Great Depression, through the "rise of racial eugenics, and black lynchings throughout the South."

Between high school, homework, tennis practice and competitions, Micaela Hein was exhausted, and struggled to keep up with classmates. So during her freshman year, the aspiring Mission Viejo tennis star decided to quit. School, that is. Hein abandoned San Clemente High School and a prized spot on its tennis team in early 2004 in favor of home schooling and rigorous daily training at an Irvine tennis academy and tournaments that take her nationwide.