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The study found no big difference between the two

groups of children in self-concept or assertiveness, which

was measured by social development tests.  But the video-

tapes showed that youngsters who were taught at home by

their parents had consistently fewer behavior problems.40

Is Homeschooling Legal?

The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights do not

mention education.  In spite of the creation of a federal

Department of Education, education is an issue of states'

rights.  According to the National Homeschool Association,

"Homeschooling is legally permitted in all fifty states, but

laws and regulations are much more favorable in some states

than in others."41  For example, states such as Idaho,

Oklahoma, and Texas are considered user friendly to home-

schoolers in that there is no requirement for parents to

initiate contact with the state to begin to homeschool.  On

the other hand, states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, and

New York are heavily regulated (curriculum approval by the

state, home visits, submission of achievement test scores,

and so on).42

In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, as the

homeschooling movement gained more converts, the compulsory

attendance laws of various states were challenged in court.

One landmark case, for example, occurred in Massachusetts.

In Perchemlides v. Frizzle (1978), a Massachusetts court

upheld the right of the nonreligious Perchemlides family to

homeschool their young son.  The court concluded that "the

Massachusetts compulsory attendance statue might well be

constitutionally infirm if it did not exempt students whose

parents prefer alternative forms of education."43

In response to homeschoolers' court victories at the

state level, 33 states had enacted homeschooling legislation

by 1995.  The more favorable legal and political climate did

not mean that controversies with school officials ceased.44

Christopher Klicka, an attorney for the HSLDA, notes that,

during the 1990-91 school year, nearly 2,000 homeschoolers

with problems sought assistance from his organization.

Those problems "involved various degrees of harassment,

ranging from actual or threatened prosecution to the at-

tempted imposition of restrictions in excess of the law."45