Some homeschoolers have been scrambling to gain state approval for years now. Those of us who realize that parenting our offspring is a perfectly right and natural function of having produced those children, also realize that no state "seal of approval" is required. In fact, seeking the state's approval is seeking to bring force to bear upon your own children, family and home.

Civil government is an agency of force, supposedly created to aid in securing the individual's natural right to defend his life, liberty, and property against any unjust attack. The attempt to apply the coercive force of the state in any other capacity causes a violation of its intended purpose.

"There is only one way I can see for fallible, ignorant human beings to live in accord with their own real natures and that is to discard forever the principle of controlling each other's behavior, dropping even the desire to control other people, and seeing at every level the fallacy in the logic that leads to such a desire. " --William T. Powers

Created, organized, and staffed by humans... civil government can conjure up no more rightful authority than that of the human beings who created it.

The only genuine authority the individual human ever has concerns his or her own life, liberty and property. Those people enjoying their capacity for reproduction then have the same duty to secure the life, liberty, and property of their offspring until the children have matured enough to do this themselves.

No man has any rightful authority over the discharge of the parental responsibility of his neighbor. They are equally at liberty to fill in the details of this work in accord with their own unique circumstances. If no man has this authority over another, then no man ever did bring such authority to the creation of government.

The state's only proper role in any of this would be to aid in securing the liberty of the parents to perform their parental function and duty to their children. No state approval of the process allowed, thank you very much.

REALITY CHECK:The state needs our approval to even exist. This need is not reciprocal.

Some of the folks involved in home education who believe that they have discovered the "right" way to do it not only perceive their "right" way as valid for their own home, they want to see it done their way in your home.

These are the same people you will find seeking state approval and/or proactively working for "homeschooling" litigation and legislation. They want the specifics of their vision of home education encapsulated in at least one "law" in order to reassure themselves they are "right" and force you to agree and conform.

There are other folks involved in home education who are merely willing to disregard individual liberty in order to use the force of civil government to further their own commercial or political aspirations.

REALITY CHECK (for all those persons described above):

You cannot retain your own liberty unless you are
willing to respect and allow the liberty of others.

"Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
May your chains set lightly upon you; and may
posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
--Samuel Adams

Here is the heart of the problem with anyone seeking state approval of home education: while it is foolishness to value one's own liberty so little as to throw it away, it is criminal to throw away the liberty of your neighbor.

"Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one harms the person or property of another." --Lysander Spooner