For years, homeschooling meant AnnMarie Fireman had to submit an annual curriculum, file quarterly reports and have her children take standardized tests.
HOMESCHOOLING LAWS
Here is how Michigan stacks up against other states and the District of Columbia:
These states don't require parents to register if they are homeschooling:
Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas.
These states require parents to notify them that they are homeschooling:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.
These states require parents to serve notice that they are homeschooling. Parents must send test scores and provide professional evaluation of student progress:
Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.
These states require parents to either send notification that they are homeschooling, or send achievement test scores and professional evaluation. In addition, parents must have curriculum approval by the state, prove they are qualified to teach, or have home visits by state officials:
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
Source: Home School Legal Defense Association
ABOUT THIS SERIES
Monday: Kids thrive and learn in others' houses
Wednesday: Homeschoolers move on to college; homeschooling as big business.
But that was in New York. In Michigan, where Fireman has lived for the last six years, no paperwork is required of parents who want to educate their children at home.
"Michigan is a favorable place to be. It's very noninvasive," Fireman of Huntington Woods said.
Few laws regulate homeschooling in Michigan. Advocates say that's exactly as it should be, but others say the lack of oversight makes it difficult to track the population of homeschooled students and ensure accountability.
In Michigan, parents can register with the state -- if they want to. Students aren't required to take standardized tests. There's no monitoring of curriculum. All that's required by parents is a noncontractual agreement that they'll teach core subjects.
"It provides a maximum amount of parental freedom," said Chris Klicka, senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Fund, based in Purcellville, Va.
Michigan is one of eight states with few or no laws regulating homeschooling. Attempts at changing that have met with strong resistance from home- school advocates, who say they're trying to avoid the type of structure required in states like New York. They want freedom from government intervention.
"The least amount of intrusion, the better," said Pat Montgomery, a longtime homeschool advocate in Michigan who founded and directs Clonlara School in Ann Arbor, which provides a day school and services for homeschoolers worldwide. "You can see why in our schools. The amount of government intrusion into their schools has brought us to the point where teachers are teaching kids how to test. The teachers hate it, the parents hate it, the kids hate it -- but that's government intrusion of the highest order," Montgomery said.
Legislation versus regulation Homeschoolers are educated by a passionate group of people. No one knows that more painfully than Rep. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville.
The Macomb County lawmaker introduced two pieces of legislationlast year, one requiring all homeschoolers to be registered and the other requiring them to take the MEAP.
"I'm not asking to regulate them," he said. "I'm just trying to get a handle on how many are out there. What is the trend? Is it growing?"
He also has concerns about people who might abuse the system.
"I'm sure 99 percent of them take their job seriously," Switalski said. "But there's probably a small group out there that aren't, who are using it either to take care of work or baby-sitting problems or using it to escape scrutiny by people who monitor truancy."
Brian Whiston, director of legislative affairs for Oakland Schools, said many school administrators have similar concerns -- though like Switalski, he said most homeschoolers "get a great education and do outstanding."
But for those using home- schooling as a ruse, Whiston said: "I don't believe that's true home- schooling. It's used as a way of keeping" officials "from finding out what's happening in the lives of those kids."
Switalski's legislation prompted an outcry from the homeschool community in Michigan and beyond. He received more than 100 calls a day, and his cosponsors quickly withdrew their support. The bills died in the House Education Committee.
"The homeschoolers are so well organized and vocal that I'll never get a hearing," Switalski said.
Rep. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, who is chair of the committee, doesn't doubt that a small percentage of homeschoolers are unsuccessful. But "I'm not willing to punish the good for a very small minority."
Added Montgomery: "If there are a couple of cars on a highway speeding, should we say nobody is allowed to drive?"
As for the MEAP, Kuipers and many homeschool advocates question why anyone would require homeschoolers to take the tests, when they aren't even a requirement for public school students.
Michael Bricker, who is home- schooled by his mother in Detroit, said the MEAP shouldn't be mandatory. He has taken the test once -- two years ago, in sixth grade -- when he spent a year in a private school.
"Tests don't really measure what you know. They measure how well you take a test," said Bricker, who is 13.
The Michigan Education Association supported both pieces of legislation, said Karen Schulz, communications consultant. The group's support was borne out of the association's interest "in the quality of education of all children."
She acknowledged that the MEAP isn't a requirement for public school students, but said it has become an increasingly important accountability tool used by state leaders.
Holding schools accountable
Todd Ziebarth, a policy analyst for the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit educational research group in Denver, said there is little research on the number of failing homeschoolers, largely because they are so loosely regulated in most states. One solution is more monitoring.
"I haven't seen any discussion among the homeschool advocates, acknowledging that this does not work for X-percentage of families," he said.
Klicka of the Home School Legal Defense Fund is wary of any efforts that might reverse what he said was a tough effort to change Michigan's homeschooling laws.
Before 1993, Michigan required homeschooling parents to have a teaching certificate. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional in 1993, saying parents can claim a religious exemption to the teacher certificate rule.
Before the ruling, the legal defense group received an average of 500 complaints a year from Michigan homeschoolers who said they were being intimidated and harassed.
In the case that spawned the Supreme Court decision, Mark and Chris DeJonge of Ottawa County were taken to court by the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, who charged them with violating the compulsory attendance law because the DeJonges were noncertified teachers.
Now, Michigan families who homeschool can opt to register with the state, which earns them status as a nonpublic school. They must keep records detailing enrollment and course of study, and furnish them at the request of the Michigan Department of Education. The only benefit is that there's a record on file in case any questions arise about a family's homeschooling.
In fact, the number of people registered with the state has declined sharply since the Legislature amended the compulsory attendance law. In the 1995-96 school year, 1,645 families registered as homeschoolers, compared with the latest count of 884, done Dec. 12. The legal defense group estimates there are 70,000 homeschoolers in Michigan.
Fireman, whose background is in teaching, doesn't register with the state. The state's liberal laws were part of the reason she and her husband, Mark Fireman, moved to Michigan from New York.And though she's happy with Michigan's laws, she's worried they could change.
Renee Bricker, who home- schools Michael and her two other children, said the state shouldn't address concerns about the welfare and possible neglect of children through legislation that would regulate homeschools.
"There are enough protections already built into Michigan's juvenile and probate code," she said. "You don't need separate legislation."
And though she said she believes it's crucial for the state to look after the welfare of children, "at the same time, parents need to be trusted."
Wednesday: Homeschoolers move on to college; and homeschooling as big business. For part 1, see www.freep.com.
Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-591-5625 or higgins@freepress.com. Staff writer Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki contributed to this report.