"Diversity" is a buzzword in education today. So how about an exploration of home schooling? There are more home-schooled students than students enrolled in charter schools, and they run the gamut from socially conservative Christians to counter-cultural lefties, with many people in between.

In Kansas, the Lawrence Journal-World and 6 News Lawrence have put together a multi-media package that offers an introduction to home schools called Learning Outside the Lines. It has straight news reporting, first-person accounts from students and parents, video clips, a chat, and plenty of animated discussion board comments.

The term "public education" can be corrupted to mean a jobs program for teachers and administrators. But if the term is to focus on the process of learning, surely it can be large enough to incorporate not only private schools and public charter schools, but home schools. In any case, the development of virtual schools run by government-run schools, which is referenced in "Learning Outside the Lines," is blurring some of the distinctions as parents pick and choose what works for them.