A recent United States Supreme Court ruling requires that school staff with contagious diseases be treated like other handicapped employees who may be "otherwise qualified" to continue work under reasonable accommodation. Compulsory education laws are facing court challenges in several states, as parents seek more flexibility in…

Many people dissatisfied with the public school system are actively seeking alternatives to public education. In the past, the only alternatives to public school were parochial or private schools or privately hired tutors. Not everyone could afford these alternatives. Over the past 20 years, another alternative to public school education has come…

This report discusses homeschooling as an option for parents looking for educational choice. Keeping track of homeschoolers is difficult since many return to the public schools. Some estimates claim that in the late 1960s there were 10,000 to 15,000 homeschooled children in the U.S. By 1999, those who were homeschooled ranged in numbers from…

Presents the story of how institutionalized racism prompted one African American couple to home school their three sons, who 10 years later, found themselves at Ivy League schools. The move to home schooling came after the boys were expelled from a mostly white, private school for what the parents insisted were racial reasons, asserting that skin…

Describes development and implications for public schools of cyber (online) charter schools such as Ohio's Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (eCOT). (PKP)

Describes Arizona school district's service-related partnership with home-schooled students. (PKP)

Public schools and home-school advocates have moved closer in tolerance. All 50 states now allow some kind of home schooling. Four states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Iowa) allow home-schooled children to take part in public school extracurricular activities. One California district provides funds to home-schooling families to purchase…

Discusses the recent growth in homeschooling and offers suggestions for public libraries to support homeschoolers. Highlights include creating your own curricula; publishers who offer resources for homeschoolers; use of the Internet; and examples of books and series, grouped by subject, of materials particularly suited for homeschoolers. (LRW)

Home school is evolving and gaining popularity in the United States. This paper describes different methods of home schooling, presents various home schooling resources that are available, and discusses the relationships between home schooling families and public schools, noting that a relationship between schools and home schools could be…

Now a growing number of Texas homeschoolers want to send their children off to class, if only a few hours a day. But as in other states, not all educators in the Lone Star State think students should be able to select just a course or two. A bill that would have encouraged schools to offer classes on an a la carte basis failed for the third time…

This report presents data on home schooling in the state of Arkansas that covers: students withdrawn from home school; home school student count by county, district, and grade level; and home school enrollments by grade and gender. The report contains the texts of the Arkansas Code Annotated Section 6-15-501 through Section 6-15-508 Home School…

This article examines the history and the concept of the common school from the Common School Movement reformers of the 1850s to the present. These reformers envisioned schools that were to be tuition free and open to everyone, places where rich and poor met and learned together on equal terms. Central to the concept of the common school is its…

Describes the individualized instructional approach of the Imperial Tutoring and Educational Services school in Chicago (Illinois), which offers tutoring by certified personnel for remedial and enrichment purposes. The program recently became the first tutorial school fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. (PGD)

An industrial arts teacher explains necessity for teaching seven of his nine adopted children at home. Although his white children were well disciplined and encouraged by teachers, the East Indian, Cambodian, Hispanic, and African-American youngsters received little correction for out-of-line behavior and poor academic performance. Besides getting…

Discusses homeschool Web sites, and notes the importance of connecting with others. Describes three such sites, and lists other Web sites which are useful resources for homeschoolers. Presents an evaluation methodology for school-produced Web sites, consisting of the following criteria: vision, originality, integrity, community, empowerment, and…