This article by libertarian Wendy McElroy, entitled The Separation of School and State, contains much wisdom and many links of interest.

Sample quote from near the end:

My purpose is not to dispute with parents who send their children to public schools. I believe the system is a brutal failure, but parents must decide for themselves. I advocate extending alternatives far beyond the typical private versus public school debate, and even beyond homeschooling.

In particular, McElroy links to this article by Michelle Malkin which I missed when it first came out. Here's how that starts:

New Jersey's child welfare system, like most state child welfare systems, is a corrupt and deadly mess. Children are lost in the shuffle, shipped to abusive foster homes, returned to rapists and child molesters, and left to die in closets while paperwork piles up. So whom does the government decide to punish for the bureaucracy's abysmal failure to protect these innocents?

Homeschoolers.

And what does the government think will solve its ills?

More power and paperwork.

My kind of quote. The piece ends equally well:

A crackdown on innocent homeschooling families to cure the incompetence of government child welfare agencies is like a smoker lopping off his ear to treat metastatic lung cancer. It's a bloody wrong cure conceived by a fool who caused his own disease.

Amen.