A prime example of this new stance is in Washington State where for several years now and often with little or no regulatory authority, local school districts have launched programs specifically targeting the homeschool student. Sometimes called Cyberschool or Parent Partnered Program, the title may include the words Homeschool or Home Education. The advertising is pitched to the homeschooling community and usually only students who have been listed as homeschoolers for at least ninety days may participate.

The programs are commonly funded through the alternative education program (AEP) laws and often seem too good to be true. Parents who enroll their students may educate them at home using a curriculum of their choice and at the same time send the student to school for a class or two (minimum one hour a week). The school does the paperwork, the required testing, prepares individual education programs (IEPs) in consultation with the parents, and in many cases provides either cash or reimbursement for nonsectarian curriculum purchases, educational field trips, tickets to fine arts events, even membership fees for other educational programs. As much as $500 to $1000 has been offered for each student enrolled.

But some homeschoolers are taking a dim view of these programs. They warn that it is a thinly veiled effort to woo them back into the public schools. They contend that it is a poor use of taxpayers’ money, noting that for the $5000 or so the school collects for full-time enrolled students, only a fraction will go into the special program, with seemingly little or no accountability for the balance. Do taxpayers want to foot the bill for an education that parents are already providing at home? they ask. And what about the special needs kids the AEP laws were originally meant to benefit. Are they being forgotten in the rush to cash in on homeschoolers looking for handouts or handholding?

The biggest battle seems to be over whether families enrolled in these school-sponsored programs should even call themselves homeschoolers. Parents who teach their children at home but under the supervision of the public school feel they are entitled to the name. After all, they're doing the majority of the educating. But parents who have been bearing the full responsibility for their child's education feel that anything else is a misuse of the term. Call it AEP, call it cyberschool, call it anything else, they say, but don't call it homeschooling. It's a matter of responsibility. If parents bear the responsibility, then it's homeschooling. If the school district bears the responsibility, then it should not be called homeschooling. And so it goes.

Some even maintain that participating in AEPs will endanger our right to homeschool, and that laws will be revised to reflect this relinquishing of responsibility. By the way, no mention is made about homeschoolers who partake of private school offerings, even when they are enrolled for full-time supervision in the umbrella schools or extension programs.

Now setting all this aside, I'd like to propose a whole new point of view on the matter of homeschoolers participating in school-sponsored programs. For many years I have spoken of my vision for public education. I have described what I call "cafeteria schools" where people of all ages could go to get help with anything they wish to learn, and where teachers would be available to facilitate learning rather than imposing their own "well-rounded" programs. After all, the responsibility for learning is and has always has been that of the student. What society has deemed "an education" never accurately described what the student actually learned.

Think of the tax dollars saved if schools were open all day, if teachers were hired based on knowledge and ability to convey it, if students attended at will and weren't subject to compulsory attendance, and if parents owned their responsibility for modeling and mentoring.

Many have spoken or wished for the demise of public education. I believe it is too firmly entrenched in the American system, but I agree that a major overhaul is in order. Perhaps it is happening! Homeschoolers have already shown the way. People involved in public education know about our successes. They read the media coverage of the national spelling bee winners, the geography bee, the science contest, the National Arbor Day poster contest—all won by homeschoolers. Universities around the country have sponsored research on how we stack up against the national average on test scores. Social skills, creativity, even passive-aggressive behavior has been measured. Bottom line: homeschool wins over public school every time—even when parents lack training and the school building is a humble home.

So who is going to try to stop this by all accounts very successful movement? Why would anyone want to do anything but emulate it? Why not bring these successful home educators into closer proximity to the professionals? Why not offer these young people even more help on their way to becoming all they can be? What legislator would risk his career and reputation by crafting restrictive legislation? It is only a matter of time and school districts across the country will either collapse or will start moving toward alternative education programs that imitate as much as possible the homeschool ideal. Of course they'll never reach it. They lack the main ingredient—caring parents. But the more they imitate us, the better the chance that more parents will start caring.

Not every family will want to participate in AEPs Those true blue homeschoolers are the crucible for education excellence. But let them look upon their colleagues who choose to partake of alternative education programs as the emissaries for excellence. Let us not draw lines of exclusion. Let us unite with all who care about true learning. And let us honor the professionals who have had the courage to change their paradigms and forge new ways to work with us.