Public School at Home

I am horrible at following news or current events of any kind, but I have managed to hear about a new "public school at home" program that's being offered in Iowa, and I just got an interesting link about it from a homeschooling friend: http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ia/201202220.asp. To me, public school at home sounds like the worst of both worlds...parents are required to use the same textbooks and curriculum as the public schools, so gone is your opportunity to customize anything to suit your children or your educational goals, and in its place you get the public school worldview - which is at best, non-Christian and at worst, anti-Christian. This article paints a pretty negative picture of the results of public school at home too - poor test scores, etc. My advice, for what it's worth, is that if you want to homeschool but can't face the thought of making everything up yourself, don't resort to this option. There are tons of free or inexpensive programs out there that outline everything for you, and you WILL find one that fits your (and your kids') needs. I'm still trying to psych myself up for the Ambleside Online program for the next school year, which is almost totally free. All you buy are the books and resources that aren't available online for free - and since many of the books used are old enough to be in the public domain, many of them are free. A curriculum based on reading great literature and studying God and nature - does it get any better than that? (My kids would argue for a curriculum based on Legos and Star Wars, but I'm not convinced that they're ready to take control of their studies...yet...)