Homeschooling doesn't come up much on the election trail. Most homeschoolers would probably like to keep it that way. Sure, we look around to see what we think the future might hold, but there are so many issues, this freedom to educate our children is just one of the rights we'll keep in mind when we go to the polls.

In looking at the candidates, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain have mentioned much about homeschooling. Joe Biden and Sarah Palin seem pretty mum on the concept as well. The best we can do is look at their views on education to try and figure out what that might mean to our families and our way of life.

With this election cycle, either our new president or our new vice-president will bring school-aged children to Washington. How they educate their children also says something about how they might shape future education policy.

Sen. Obama's thoughts on education include spending billions on universal preschool. He opposes school vouchers that would allow poorer students to flee underperforming schools.

In an interview with ABC News earlier this year, Obama indicated that introducing a voucher program would be problematic because there would not be enough slots in private and parochial schools.

You might think he would consider the law of supply and demand, but this is from the guy who gives his girls one whole dollar a week for allowance to teach them about fiscal responsibility.

Obama also speculated that funding a voucher program would likely drain the brightest students and most involved families from failing public schools. He should know — his daughters attend a private school with an annual tuition of about $20,000. Failing public schools are fine for other people's children, not his.

Sadly, both Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin have expressed agreement with Obama on the voucher issue. Biden even voted against a proposed voucher plan that would have been implemented in the abysmal schools in Washington, D.C.

Sen. McCain's voting record shows consistent support of school voucher programs and charter schools. In many areas, charter schools are the means of choice for homeschooling parents.

Of course, there are those in the homeschool community who would say that charter schools are co-opting the homeschool movement, but that is another column altogether.

Palin, who has actually sent children to the public school system, got a lot of attention in the blogosphere when someone speculated that the Palin children were going to be homeschooled.

There have been various stories linking the Palins to homeschooling — including one that Todd Palin was homeschooled — with only chatter and no substance to back up the information.

The fact is, our presidential election will likely have little impact on our freedom to homeschool our children. Most legislation and regulation of homeschooling lately has come about after high-profile nut cases do something horrific to their children and knee-jerk politicians — or judges — take a stab at limiting homeschooling in order to protect children.

News flash to politicians: People who say they are homeschooling but plan instead to abuse their children aren't really concerned about their children's education. New regulations will not change their behavior.

If the Democrats win the presidency this November, there will be plenty of quality private schools for the Obamas to choose from, all pricey enough to keep out the riff raff. Should the Republicans take the election, the Palin family may have to rethink their love of the public school system.

Maybe they should check out the new homeschool regulations in D.C., just in case some of those Internet rumors about homeschooling turn out to be true.

Rose Godfrey is a speech pathologist and homeschooling mom in Hallwood. Her homeschool blog can be found on the Appeal-Democrat Web site at http://learningathome.freedomblogging.com.