To the editor:

While acknowledging that the Lawrence Virtual School, and others of its ilk, may offer a valuable service to some families, it is not home schooling. A more accurate description would be that its students are enrolled in an extension, satellite or distance-learning program of the public school system.

True home schooling neither seeks nor accepts any form of government assistance, and the control that inevitably follows. In fact, Home School Legal Defense Assn. will not accept families and students with any public virtual school affiliation as members. And, to my knowledge, neither will most long-established home school support groups. This is not an effort to be exclusionary, but to preserve and protect the hard won freedom to pursue true home schooling.

Finally, in response to the concern expressed in one of the “On the Street” comments, accreditation is an absolute non-issue as the ACT test can serve as substantiation for a student’s eligibility for federal educational aid. Both of our children were home schooled K-12 and are now enrolled in selective private colleges. Cumulatively we’ve been through the application process with about a dozen colleges and not a single one has ever asked whether our home school had any form of accreditation.

Robert W. Ramsdell,

Lawrence