In February 1994, Christian homeschoolers were organized by the Home School Legal Defense Association to stop an amendment to HR 6, a reappropriation bill for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, that could have required teacher certification in some homeschools. Read the defense association’s account of the campaign.

The conservative Christian advocacy group Home School Legal Defense Association offers a map to show the level of regulation in each state.

HomeSchoolFacts.com offers a map linked to pages of information on teacher certification and other requirements for each state.

Read a March 7, 2008, San Francisco Chronicle article about a California Court of Appeals ruling that made homeschoolers believe they would be forced to be credentialed teachers.

Franklin E. Zimring is William G. Simon Professor of Law and Wolfen Distinguished Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Law School. He specializes in issues of criminology, violence and family law.

Don Lindley is an assistant professor of criminology at Jesuit-run Regis University in Denver and was a member of the Denver Police Department for 33 years.

Byron R. Johnson is a professor of sociology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who has written widely on the relationship between religion and criminal behavior. He is the author of the entry “The Role of Religious Institutions in Responding to Crime and Delinquency” in The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion.

David Kratz Mathies is an assistant professor of philosophy and religion at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. He teaches an ethics course in which students examine and debate contemporary moral issues, including gun control.

Timothy Hall is an associate professor of philosophy at Oberlin College & Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. He teaches a variety of ethics courses, and his research interests include the applied ethics of gun control.