The
Informed
Homeschooler
Dr. Brian Ray
The Context
Arecent news story out of Cali- fornia shows that David Tur- pin and Louise Turpin were allegedly homeschooling their
children and severely neglecting and tor-
turing them. 1 This turned the attention
of some to “homeschool abuse,” in spite
of no evidence-based reason to generally
connect the two words, homeschool and
abuse. This article addresses two main
points. One is empirical evidence related
to type of schooling and child abuse. The
other is basic philosophical considerations
regarding government control over private
schooling.
Evidence-Based Information
What do research facts tell us regarding
these topics?
The General Population
United States state and local child protec-
tive services (CPS) estimated that 686,000
children ( 9. 2 per 1,000) were victims of
maltreatment in 2012.2 Of these, 46.7%
were preschool-age children. 3 During that
same year, an estimated 1,640 children died
from child maltreatment (rate of 2. 2 per
100,000 children). Of these child maltreat-
ment fatalities, 84.8% occurred among pre-
school-aged children. 4 In summary, about
half of maltreatment and maltreatment
fatalities occur in the preschool-age popu-
lation (i.e., those not under compulsory
school attendance laws).
Child Abuse of Public School, Private
School, and Homeschool Students:
Evidence, Philosophy, and Reason
People who want the government to control and regulate homeschooling more, might
have good intentions, but they have no empirical evidence to support their claims.
