Kelly Flynn is wrong on home-schooling issue; It’s not odd, it’s about opportunity, says Flint Journal guest writer Ed Tate.

Retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Levin stated that "Home-school has a very long and honorable tradition." Levin was the chief justice for the DeJong case, which established the legal right to home school in Michigan. On July 20, 2008, The Flint Journal published a column by Kelly Flynn titled "Home schooling should be a choice — however odd." Her conclusions that home schooling is "odd" and that Michigan should put more legislation in place are wrong.

Ms. Flynn stated that "home schooling is an odd choice when I look at the bounty offered in the public school system."

However, well over one million home schoolers disagree with her. The US Census Bureau estimates 86 percent of home schoolers report dissatisfactory academic environment or instruction as one of the reasons they home school. While home schooling is not for every family, the public education system is not for others. The pioneers in home schooling risked fines and imprisonment for this freedom.

Home schooling is pursued for many reasons. The majority of families who home school are solidly middle-class. Most are a two-parent household with a stay-at-home parent.

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