Following is a brief insight to the laws concerning "home schooling" in California. "home schooling," is a catchword not found in the California Education Code, and holds a wide variety of definitions. Definitions may vary between home school groups or public school officials. Following are the three methods currently considered legal in California as means for home schooling.

1. Have a current California teaching credential for the grades being taught, or hiring a credentialed tutor.

2. Enrolling a student in a public school ISP (Independent Study Program).

3. Enrolling a student in a bona fide private school offering independent study.

The legal interpretation of the laws concerning "home schooling" in California has not changed since the early 1950's. Since then two "home schooling" issues were dealt with in California courts:

People v Turner, 1954, which was appealed to the Los Angeles County Appellate Court and In re Shinn, 1961, appealed to the California Appellate Court. The families lost in both cases on the municipal level and the appellate level. These two cases set precedent on the interpretation of the law in California. While there has been municipal court cases in California (People v Darrah, 1986 and People v Black, 1986) which ruled that the compulsory attendance statue is void because of its unconstitutional vagueness, these cases do not set precedent in the state of California and only apply to these two families. As a matter of fact, the majority of these types of cases are currently losing throughout the state (People v Clevenger, 1987, Clonlara Inc. v Runkel, 1989, and People v Linda Robinson, July 1992).

People v Turner rejected the concept that parents may designate their own home instruction program as a private school in order to avoid credential requirements. In re Shinn specifically rejects any kind of long distance course as fulfillment of the compulsory education requirement.

It is our recommendation that any family home schooling needs to do so appropriately by either being a credentialed teacher (or hiring one), enrolling in a public school independent study program, or enrolling their students in a private school independent study program. Sometimes the term, "umbrella program" is used. This may or may not be a bon-a-fide program from the state's point of view. Check with your local school district or county offices.

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