Homeschooling and Foster Care

Most people have nothing to do with homeschooling. Most people have nothing to do with foster care. Foster parents who homeschool are rare indeed.

Most people, including many social workers, hold a dim view of homeschooling. It seems like most people that I have spoken to know of a family who says that they homeschool but really just let their kids run wild and uneducated. Then there is the stereotype of a homeschooler—the religious fanatic who keeps their kids locked up and indoctrinates them with an extreme religious viewpoint in a near-abusive manner, while keeping them isolated from the real world.

In either of those situations, I could see why a social worker would be worried. However, most homeschooling families that I know work hard to educate their kids, try to get adequate socialization, and have very well-rounded children.

There are certain things that I feel have helped us as we have tried to have social workers trust us with children in the states custody.

1. We’ve tried not to bring up homeschooling unless the social worker brings up the topic. If it never comes up, it isn’t a concern.

2. When it has come up, we’ve make it clear that foster children go to school wherever the state wants them to. As long as the state has custody, the state makes the rules.

3. We follow all of the state laws with regard to homeschooling, including getting an exemption certificate and tracking the days when school is in session. Many homeschooling parents near us do not bother, because our local schools are so overflowing that no one follows up. We make it a point to follow the letter of the law.

4. My wife is a certified school teacher. For some reason, this fact stops most arguments cold, even though neither my wife nor I feel that it is an important consideration.

5. We explain that we are not against public schooling; we simply feel that it is not right for our children at this time. If we ever felt like homeschooling wasn’t working, we would put our children into public school.

6. We point out that our children are at least a grade level above where they would be in public school, in terms of their abilities.

7. We point out that SpiderBoy is the only child old enough to even attend public school, and he would be in kindergarten, which is optional in our state.

It hasn’t alleviated everyone’s fears, but it has given us some room to prove that it works. The social workers that we have worked with have gotten to know us, and that we are excellent foster parents who do everything we can for the welfare of our children. Some of them are even beginning to drop their stereotypes.

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