Anita Wallace listens intently as her son, Tyler, reads aloud from a textbook during a study session on Tuesday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Class is in session

Local parents can homeschool their children — legally

Anita Wallace has been homeschooling her children for more than 15 years. Not that she would have stopped, but now she can continue doing it legally.

A California appeals court ruled earlier this month that parents without teaching credentials can still home school their children, reversing its previous decision.

The three-judge panel in February prompted an enormous uproar throughout the state when it initially ruled that all California children had to be taught by credentialed teachers, including the estimated 166,000 students taught at home.

"The movement is growing, and it will continue whether the state allows it or not," said Wallace, who recently completed a college project on the issue of homeschooling.

Wallace, who coordinates Century Assembly Church's homeschool outreach program in Lodi, held a public meeting last week to educate parents about affiliating themselves with an established school. That is one state requirement to homeschool a child.

When she started homeschooling, her now 21-year-old was four. Although she knew it would be a challenge, she felt it was just an extension of being a mother.

"A lot of people don't even think about it, that for the first hundred years of our country, home education was the only form of education," she said. "The common individual was responsible for making sure their children were educated." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed with the high court's ruling. "This decision confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children," he said in a press release issued Aug. 7, the date of the court decision. "I hope the ruling settles this matter for parents and homeschooled children once and for all in California, but assure them that we, as elected officials, will continue to defend parents' rights."

The statewide homeschool issue began with a high school dropout who was homeschooling her eight children in the Southern California city of Lynwood with workbooks published in the late 1970s.

Because the father had been found to have abused some of the older children, lawyers appointed to represent the youngest children asked a trial judge to send them to a credentialed school for their safety.

Wallace's three children — her eldest was accepted to Pepperdine University at age 17 — have been homeschooled as well as attending public schools. The youngest, a 13-year-old, is currently learning at home and being taught exclusively by Wallace.

"The court upholding the homeschool issue is returning to basic American values," she said. "That feels pretty validating."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.