Last week we reported that American families are increasingly choosing homeschooling over public school. This decision stems largely from the reduction in the “‘quality and content of instruction at local public schools.’”

In California, however, homeschooling is seeing explosive growth for an additional reason: the mandatory vaccination requirement for students which was signed into law at the end of June.

According to The Guardian:

“[H]ome school advocates and organizations say they are seeing surging interest in off-campus education options that would exempt them from the requirement.

‘The word on the streets is that, yes, people are coming to home schooling,’ said Sarah Ford, membership director for Sonoma County Homeschoolers Nonprofit in northern California.”

The Guardian goes on to describe the contentious nature of the bill, which “requires any student in public or private school to have 10 vaccinations as an attendance requirement, with some exceptions for medical conditions.”

Such a measure has forced many public school-supporting parents to reconsider their stance on home education, one of whom is Lyn Elliott.

“While [Elliott’s] daughter Rebel is ‘mostly vaccinated’, there are certain shots she feels are unnecessary ‘and that I feel have risks’.

Next summer she will have to face the choice of giving vaccinations she does not want, or lose access to daycare – where some of the vaccine requirements will also apply. A single parent after her husband died in a motorcycle accident, she says home schooling could mean a critical drop in her income, but it’s a move she feels compelled to make.”

Vaccines are undoubtedly an issue about which many parents feel strongly. Do you think the state of California was right to make them a requirement for attendance in public school? Would you, like many California parents, choose to homeschool your child in order to maintain your rights to make what you believe are the best decisions for the safety of your child?