Some policy makers are trying to get the
public to believe that they should be starting
formal education earlier, advocating Head Start programs for
children as young as 1 year, hoping to take advantage of the time when the brain is growing more than ever.
What combinations of
formal (such as preschools, Head Start centers, and pre-K classrooms in
public schools) and informal care (such as care from relatives) are families using for their preschool
children?
The deliberations have addressed various topics such as whether (a) parents should have to be state - certified teachers in order to home educate their
children, (b) parents should have to have achieved a particular level of
formal education in order to homeschool their
children, (c) parents should have to pass teacher qualification examinations that states use for
public school teachers, (d) homeschool students should be subjected to mandatory standardized achievement tests, (e) state officials should oversee the social activities of home - educated students (or homeschool socialization), and (f) parents should have to get approval from the state government in order to engage in home - based education with their
children (see, e.g., Farris 2013; Yuracko, 2008).