Families who educate their children at home have been gaining a powerful band of supporters since a recent court decision that severely restricts most home schooling in the state.

Anne Leyden has been home schooling her three sons - now 8, 12 and 15 - since they were old enough to start learning. Leyden chose home schooling not because she thinks the public schools are terrible - in fact, her husband, Bill, teaches at Pacoima Middle School - but simply because she can.

The ruling last week by the Los Angeles-based 2nd District Court of Appeal that parents could not educate their children unless they have a teaching credential takes away an important educational choice for parents.

In an excruciating war of a-t-t-r-i-t-i-o-n, a 10-year-old home-schooled student beat the area's defending champion to win the Marion County Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday.

Home-school basketball players are now tracked by scouts, and some have accepted scholarships to leading colleges.

Even as some of California's top elected officials promised they won't support or enforce a recent court decision severely restricting most homeschooling, a small Christian school vowed to take the fight to the state Supreme Court to get a legal guarantee.

By Walter P. Coombs and Ralph E. Shaffer
A court ruling is right to examine the seemingly elitist and illiberal practice.

Top schools official reassures parents that court ruling won't change status quo. Many still worry. Countering a potentially precedent-setting appeals court decision that bars parents from educating their children at home if they lack teaching credentials, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell on Tuesday affirmed families' right to home school.

One triumph for US education during the past 30 years has been a turnaround by states to let parents home-school their children. As many as 1 in 25 school-age kids now are taught around the proverbial kitchen table. But the triumph is a shaky one, as a recent court ruling proves.

In a blow to parents everywhere, the Los Angeles 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled last week that under provisions in the state's education code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children and in fact criminalizes efforts to do so since they are not certified teachers.

By Heather Terwilliger and Greg Toppo
A California court ruling that challenges parents' legal right to teach their children at home is angering home schoolers, who hope the state's Supreme Court will overturn the decision. Otherwise, advocates say, thousands of families may be forced to abandon home schooling.

'Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of children's education'
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today blasted a court ruling that endangered homeschooling and homeschoolers statewide.

By Amy Fagan
National and California home-schooling advocates are banding together to fight a state court ruling they say could essentially outlaw the practice of allowing parents to teach their children at home.