Everyone's heard of the proverbial home field advantage in sports whereby the friendly confines of one's own humble abode provides a competitive edge over the inherent stress of being a member of the visiting team in a hostile environment. This article does not aim to analyze the extent to which the psychological perceptions of the home-field advantage manifest themselves into a positive reality. Instead the issues surrounding a more recent phenomenon are explored wherein progressively larger numbers of students are leaving the traditional school setting in favor of being taught at home. The home-schooler, for whatever reason, has become disassociated from the normal group-teaching mainstream environment offered by the more standard, yet varied educational options and instead receives individualized-educational attention literally within the confines of his or her own dwelling. Despite making the choice to avoid the mainstream scholastically, the home-schoolers argue that they are entitled to take advantage of the extracurricular offerings of the mainstream, including band and other arts programs as well as the right to be a member of the best sports teams whether public, private or parochial.

This article initially reviews the evolution of the home-school movement and the quest of the home-school student to participate in sports. The history is followed by an analysis of the arguments for and against allowing participation, along with administrative and legislative responses. The article then assesses whether more subtle and insidious aspects of student-athlete exploitation are the motivating forces behind the home-schoolers desires or whether these exploitative forces have yet to be considered or whether the mere fact that such exploitation is possible is enough to support a ban on the home-schooler becoming the ultimate athletic free agent of secondary education.