SOUR GRAPES, ANYONE?

Home-schooled kids hogged the headlines as finalists and winners at both the National Spelling Bee and National Geographic Bee. And more acclaim may be ahead: One of the home-schooled spelling bee finalists is off to a national math competition in which she was a finalist last year. The past few months also brought a New York Times puff piece on unschooling -- a child-led approach to home schooling -- and the Wall Street Journal published a paean to the home-schooled wunderkinders who are scooping up academic distinction and elite college spots galore.

But along with the accolades has come an ugly undercurrent of resentment from critics of home schooling. Last week, a St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist suggested that the current crop of home school contest winners came from families who are home schooling expressly to groom future competition winners.

A Fox News Channel report pondered whether "the odds are stacked in favor" of home-schooled spelling whizzes who spend hours a day poring over dictionaries, unencumbered by school bells. The program warned that recent home school triumphs, such as the record number of home-schooled spelling bee finalists, and studies showing that home schoolers score higher than regular schoolers on the SAT/ACT, may "reignite the home schooling debate."

But the debate was ignited and burning nicely before Brit Hume started rubbing two stats together on Fox News. Home school e-mail newsletters often are loaded with slights and skewerings culled from the papers that seek to expose the unfair advantages of learning at home. My personal favorite? Not long ago a Tucson Weekly sports columnist charged that home-schooled kids shouldn't be allowed to compete with other kids in sports because they have more time to practice.

Meanwhile, the National Spelling Bee folks already have taken steps to placate the parents of conventional schoolers with regulations that require youngsters to have "a full school schedule and varied academic course load" in order to compete.

Well, speaking as an outraged home schooling mom of two, I'm here to say that the home school critics are ... absolutely right. And they're absolutely wrong.

Yes, home-schooled children have plenty of time and flexibility to focus on a talent or interest. No way around it -- home schooling can allow kids to spend hours on any given passion, to zip through certain material and move on to more challenging stuff, to take advantage of opportunities like apprenticeships, early college classes and volunteering. And, if they choose, home schoolers can, and will, produce impressive portfolios to wow Ivy League admissions officials. (Note to self: Pursue online bumper sticker biz -- "My home-schooled kid just squeezed your schooled kid out of Stanford.")

But a lot of home schooling advantages aren't necessarily off-limits to schooled kids. Do you honestly believe that spelling champ George Thampy was the only finalist who spent three hours a day studying for the competition? They all did, regardless of where they went to school. All kids who compete at high levels find the time to pursue their goals. Some who end up in competitions or elite universities attend pricey private schools or charter schools where polishing an individual talent is incorporated into the school day.

And let's be honest: The folks most likely to cry "foul" about successful home-schooled kids are competitive parents who expect their kids to always win first place. Sour grapes, anyone?