Good to know!

"Studies conducted in the 1990s revealed that homeschooled students were averaging scores in the 82nd percentile as compared to the 50th for public-school students on standardized tests."


http://nevadanewsandviews.com/2010/12/06/homeschoolers-reveal-the-path-to-greater-educational-achievement/

Just for the record, I don't know if I agree or disagree that deregulation is the answer. I'm not sure how much I trust localities to set the bar high enough. On the other hand, I don't think the federal government is close enough to the students to be able to either. So I'm still thinking on this issue.

Also, I don't believe that ALL parents are the best academic teachers for their children. While I do believe that one-on-one education provided to a child by someone who deeply cares about their future and happiness is absolutely, categorically the best way to educate every single child, I know parents who don't care enough, and I know parents who care enough but lack the ability (be in time-wise or educationally or for other reasons, like they have a special-needs child who needs special education they aren't qualified to give) to do this. Instead of saying all parents should public school then, though, I'd be more inclined to say that, ideally, all parents should be provided the resources they need in order to become good teachers for their children, but that's not too practical. Plus I know a lot of adults who were severely abused by their parents when they were young....and school was their freedom and also their chance to get help. Since we don't live in an ideal culture,  it's hard to try to implement ideal education--there is a great deal to be said for practicality and reality.

Finally, I DO believe that all states should copy Nevada's homeschool laws. I was free to truly educate my children there. Colorado's laws aren't bad, and there are better programs here for homeschooling families (like Options, which provides 1 day a week of school for ONLY homeschoolers PLUS all the books and supplies for the entire curriculum--giving us our tax dollars worth in a way that homeschoolers approve of), but Nevada's laws expressed trust in the parents, and opened the door for better methods of educating to be tried--nobody forced them to just public school at home (which is extremely difficult and doesn't work well.).