The popular home-school journal Homefires is edited out of Millbrae. Technically, the only legal way to teach at home in California is to register with an independent study program at a public school, enroll in private school, or hire a credentialed tutor. But most families do not report to the state at all, and many school districts turn a blind eye to prosecuting parents for violating the compulsory public school attendance law. Advocacy groups estimate that up to 1.5 million children are home-schooled nationwide, with 150,000 students in California. Many educators also worry that parents, however well-intentioned, often lack the credentials to teach a multitude of subjects, and that children need the social life that school provides.
Parents choose home schooling for any number of reasons.
Some feel they have exhausted all other educational options. Some parents pull their kids out of public school for the crucial adolescent years, when youth are often more vulnerable to negative social influences. Mynor and David Katz, who live in Berkeley, took their daughter Zora out of public school when her grades plummeted in seventh grade. Now Zora often sleeps until 11 a.m., then stays up late at night reading books from a list put together by her father. She takes Spanish and math classes on the computer, learns guitar from a family friend and has enrolled in an acting course for youth in San Francisco.