Ah, Deutschland.

Damn, I forgot to mention: that neo-pagan culture thing, that was very astute of you Andrew. We (neo-pagans) were hoping to do a stealth move under the secularist trappings of New Age and steal some thunder from the atheists, then when the moment is right come out and claim our rightful place as the high priests and priestesses of Satan.

And, of course, our supply of victims for ritual sacrifice would be assured by your gay and lesbian allies.>

Thank you, eCurious. God gave my children to me, not to the state. The state has no business monitoring and running our lives, and frankly I want their hands off my kids, who by the way are bright, advanced readers, radiantly healthy, well-mannered, and a great challenge to any public school child in our city.>

While I support parents' ability to homeschool, I'd like to point out that all states do not monitor homeschoolers. Here in Texas, where Rod blogs from, there are really no checks on homeschoolers. Yes, the law does say that you have to "meet basic education goals of reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship." However, there are no checks on this, no appointments with any agency, no standardized tests. Basically, there is no enforcement of that. FWIW.>