Warner Brothers Plans to Lampoon Home Schooling
by Jim Brown

(AgapePress) A new cable TV sitcom pokes fun at home schoolers, pushing the myth that children who get their education at home lack sufficient "socialization" skills.

The WB network will be airing a 30-minute comedy called The O'Keefes. The show, produced by Turner Television, features a mom and dad who have home-schooled their three children in an effort to shield them from worldly influences. But the brilliant, multilingual O'Keefe children are unable to converse with kids their own age.

Mike Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, takes issue with the show's theme. He says home schoolers test higher than any other group of students in terms of socialization.

"What we know about home schooling is that you will be more sociable if you spend more time with people of different age groups rather than all the same age group," Smith says. "And secondly, spending more time with adults will certainly make you more able to converse with people of different age groups -- especially your own age group."

Smith has sent a letter to Warner Brothers CEO, Barry Meyer, urging him to revise the show's content.

"We're offer[ing] our assistance in reviewing any of their scripts of programs to be able to make them 'home-school friendly' and present home schooling in a realistic light," he says, "because we as home schoolers know that this question about socialization is a farce."

Warner Brothers declined an interview for this story.

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