American education law rests on a bargain struck in 1925: the state may require that children be educated, but it may not require that they be educated in public schools. This article explains that bargain and everything built on it. It traces the constitutional line from Meyer and Pierce through Yoder and Troxel, and explains what parental rights actually protect and what they do not. It maps the four regulatory models states use for home education and what compliance means under each. It then turns to school choice, tracing the shift from Establishment Clause suspicion to free exercise protection, and closes with the practical questions families and districts actually face.