protesters because of a law cracking down on protests in ukraine. police fought back with tear gas. injuresies are reported on both sides. those are the headlines. "america tonight" is next. >> on america tonight, home alone. an indepth look on american education takes us inside home schooling. can it be a prescription for abuse and neglect? >> we hear stories of kids 10 years old that don't know their alphabet. there are kids that will fail, and they'll fail whether they go to public school or not. >> outcry after a japanese dolphin hunt. do the survivors end up on

display for us? and reshaping america's icons by hand. she's a one-woman wonder. harvesting old growth red wood and creating new american pressures. >> it's a feel, it's a hunch, a gut feeling with me. it's woman intuition. >> evening. thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. learning at home. it's grown from a french movement three decades ago to a popular alternative in american education. the number of home schooled children doubled in the last 20

years. an estimated 1.7 million are educated at home. most often they thrive, even outperform public educated peers. there is evidence of risk to education and to their safety. "america tonight"'s indepth look at the issues with sheila macvicar on what's when children become invisable. >> rowana ward works on spelling with her eight-year-old son, joel. >> see how the e and the i are switched >> ward is home schooling, something she is passionate about and def oats hours to every day. >> you can tweak your curriculums and teaching styles to the way your child larns. for me it's an awesome and fulfilling thing to see my children learning, be there with them as they grasp new concepts. >> ward home school her two

daughters and was home schooled herself. unusual in her day to earn a picture in the local paper. ward writes for a blog next gen home school that helps other home schooling parents. for her and others teaching children at home is part of their faith. >> as a christian we believe whether you send your kids to public school or home school them, you are responsible to god for how you raise your children. >> parents is the their own plans and decide what and how to teach. there are no regulations governing home schooling. oklahoma is the one state where the right to home school is enshrined in the constitution, it's one where there is little or no home schooling oversight. in these states home schooling does not have to show that education is taking place. ward is a members of the home school legal defense association, a conservative

christian organization with a powerful lobbying arm that fought and won this deregulating environment. is it appropriate? >> it's a parental right to say, "this is how i want my child to be educated." you don't have a right to say how that should be done, because i'm the perpt. >> there's a big gap between the home-school ideal and the reality, for many. no regulations means parents don't have to register their home schooled children. it's up to the parents to make sure kids are getting an education. here at the gated housing process we are told that there are dozens of kids, as many as 100 or more of all ages who aren't in school, and weren't getting any education at home either. there's no way to know, because no one is keeping records. last year is quadruple murder

prompted an investigation not just of the killings, but conditions. authorities were surprised to find children unsupervised and uneducated. we are concerned for the children. it could be a recipe for delling wednesdayy. we hear stories of kids 10 years old that don't know their alphabet. >> ellena works for the oklahoma office of juvenile affairs and helps at-risk youth get an education. >> it's a hitten issue. it is -- a hidden issue, something that is hidden behind the veil of home schooling. parents have the right to home school. which is great. because those parents who are doing it well should have that right. but on the other hand, those who are hiding behind this right are

abusing it to the detriment and neglect of their children. and that is what is going on here. our hands are tied. we can't help these children. truensy laws don't apply. in many states there are no testing. the states where there is little or no regulations is 25 states. >> yes, yes, it is. yes, children in those states, if they are homeschooled in a bad situation, anything goes. >> there's no obligation on the part of the parents to show that education is taking place. >> no one will check on you. >> heather knows a thing or two about bad situations and home school. doane is the eldest of 10 homeschooled in a strict religious household. >> my parents were involved with a conservative church. part of that platform as home schooling was a good way to keep

your children experiencing worldly influences. as they had more children, dad's home business followed and they tried to follow the tenants of their faith thinks god bad. it ended up i was doing a lot of cooking, baby-sitting and education fell by the wayside. >> doane was the only sibling that could read. there was physical abuse. a kind of corporal punishment meant to instill obedience. >> i hid behind the couch, told my grandparents and asked for help. >> how old were you? >> 12. >> what did they do? >> they helped. they got us tested and used aby abyss mall test scales to say something has to give. i started public school in ninth grade.

doane worked hart, thrived and went to graduate school. she researched home school and learnt her home schooling was different. we were rescued in the nick of time. for a lot of families it's too late. >> doane started coalition for home schooling. a formal group pushing for more regulation. >> i thought i was alone, the only one. i thought this only happened to me. i thought all the other families around me were perfect. i thought that i was the failure. i thought that i was the problem, that i deserved these things that happened to nee. >> beyond educational neglect there are the cases of abuse. doane and her colleagues are compiling cases of child abuse where children are kept home under the guise are home

schooling. children who become invisible. >> we have cases in every state, some more than others. >> it's a horrifying litany. dozens of cases. how many, no one knows, because until doane started her work. there was no attempt to keep track. children that never went to school, in dysfunctional or religious homes, starved, beaten abused. cases like john and his wife. after testimony they beat, choked and burnt their three home schoolchildren, logging them in dog crates and feeding them pet food. all three were illiterate. more and more parents are leading schools in favour of home schools. most are well intentioned. some are not. >> it's distressing to me.

i see the kids. who don't have a future because they are able to hide - their families are able to hide them behind this. >> doane thinks home school parents should register their kids and show their children are receiving an education. parents should have the right to oversee their children's education, not the right to decide whether or not their child has a right to an education. laws around the country do not reflect that. a failing home school should be handled like other schools. it should be shut down. into home school parents like rowana ward are against the government looking over their shoulder. i believe that the government should be bilityable to the people, not the people to the government. secondly, public schools in oklahoma are failing. so to be held accountable to a

public system that is failing is ridiculous to me, i guess. >> what about a child's right to an education in a safe place. >> the parent is responsible for that. >> when parents fail? >> parents fail either way. i mean, that's what i'm saying. there's parents who will fail. they'll fail whether their kids go to public school or not. >> reviews are echoed by the home school legal defense association and its founder michael ferris. >> we defend the right of home schooling families to have free choices. the association has a dozen full-time lawyers. they actively work against legislationlation, working to change state laws. healther doane believes she's you will against an organization with plenty of cloud. >> why do you think politicians

are reluctant to talk about this? >> it's a third rail. they monitor all election on home schooling in each state. if there's anything they think potentially is an issue they put out an e-alert to the members and home school parents who are not members. you have a constituency that are mobilized and floods the lawmakers offices with phone calls, letters, threats of pulling political support. nobody wants to touch it. many of the children left at home remain invisible. >> we reached out to the home school association, due to the bad weather they had to cancel. they did email a statement:

>> that is striking, because there are a lot of stories, and you hear so many, success stories of home-schooled kids. what is the reasoning when you explain there's abuses, cases of neglect. what is the reasoning for saying we shouldn't have any further regulation. >> this is a conversation that is just beginning, coming to light that under the guise of home schooling there have been abuses of children whether you are talking about educational neglect or serious cases where children are abused and killed in some cases. we may be in the land of unintended consequences. for the home school legal

association. they believe parents and parental right are first and all parents know best. they forget what happens when parents don't have the children's best interests at heart or incapable of thinking about what the interests are. >> is there any way the government can supply more regulation. >> it's a powerful organizationway national base. they are part of the christian conservative side, if you will, group. they have lawmakers that they have worked with, talked with over the years. and these know how powerful they are, and how motivated their membership is. if there's a threat of something that intrudes upon parental rights, they can mobilise. as we heard in the piece - phone calls, emails, letters. for many it's not worth taking

it on. we were in oklahoma. we asked to speak to the state secretary of education and she wanted nothing to do with the topic. >> no one is saying there's financial incentive for parents to take their kids out of public schools. >> no, there is a religious and parental right motivation, fine. for others, there's an oversight motivation, stories which are compiled. we don't know how many, where when mandatory reporters begin to ask questions about a child's well being, in those states where there is no overside of home schooling parents withdraw their child from the school, where them from an oversight. if social services doesn't work, that can be dangerous and bad for the child. >> our correspondent sheila

mc-vicker looking into home schooling. >> "america tonight" indepth on education continues wednesday, when black students mind themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> people say listen, cops have no idea what they are working into. pranking is meant to be fun, not hurting anyone. no one was hurt by a water balloon, no serious injury by water balloon. >> the school to prison pipeline and questions of inequity for education and justice when black students face harsher punishment for the same bad behaviour. sara hoy reports next time on poot. we want to hear from you. getting school. your chance to comment and find coverage on education issues at aljazeera.com.

coming up next - the polar vortex. pack again. more about snowed under and frozen out.

>> polar vortex the sequel or not. we ran out of crazy weather words to tell you how frigid that blast is. meteorologists can debate whether a spinning polar vortex is to blame. we can tell you the weather is bad enough to shut down schools up and down the midwest and here in the capital another excuse for work to grind to a halt. 56 million people are in the cold. how much, how cold will it get. al jazeera meteorologist kevin corriveau has been tracking the conditions. you need a sweater to keep us

warmer. >> i will. i am layered under this because i'll go outside to do the weather. polar vortex in winter, synonymous names, we have used those words a bit. it's a downright winter scenario. the one that we see is an alberta clipper, it's more familiar combing out of parts of canada moving across the great lakes and dumps a lot of snow here across the north-east. that is what we are seeing in over 24 hours of snow that is being dumped here along the air. especially the major cities, this is what we see. this is our radar, and where you see the darker blues, in the darker blues that is where the heaviest snow is falling. this will continue all night long in tomorrow. we have seen this in terms of accumulation, new jersey, 1.5

inches, north-east philadelphia saw 10.5 inches, drexel hill 4.4. linden hurst and long island. 6.3. i didn't put it on here. the northern part of central park saw 5 inches of snow. we'll see the snow through the next 18 hours. one effect - by tomorrow morning there'll be a lot of people stuck that can't get to work from the high whiches. back to you. >> hope he gets a hat if he goes outside. >> we'll talk about the prospects of piece in syria, what could be an important step forward as key players sit down to talk. could it lead to a breakthrough. big stumbling blocks. a diplomatically walk -- awkward moment after secretary-general had to

withdraw his invitation to iran. if not syrian opposition would not come to the negotiations and shocking pictures emerged. a team of diplomatic experts. the syrian government tortured and killed 11,000 prisoners. disturbing. all that and the discussions have not started. let's talk about the prospects for the geneva ii negotiations. the co-ed tore of the book "the syrian dilemma" joins us, a social professor and at the university. can you talk about your feeling? given all that has happened, what is the prospect for anything being a breakthrough in geneva. >> well, if anyone is expecting a breakthrough in geneva, they'll be disappointed. largely because the geneva process and communique grants the key protag nists to the

conflict veto power. the key phrase in the geneva communique starts that the parties by mutual concept are to discuss the setting up of a transitional authority, which means there'll never be mutual consent because bashar al-assad has not come to geneva to plot his on demise from power. >> did the disinvitation of the iranians, do you think it's a bigger stumbling block, besides being an embarrassment for ban ki-moon. >> iran's interests are being represented by the assad regime. i don't think that, in any way, will substantively change the prospects for peace, which i think are to be located in the nature of the structural flaws or the one key party that is responsible for the conflict has

veto power over anything moving forward. >> what about the pictures. these are horrific, the indications of widespread torture and abuse. how serious a problem is that for the syrians as they enter the negotiations. >> it's serious for the syrian opposition because they have to sit across the table from the side that is responsible for the pictures. it's difficult for the syrian opposition to come to the table for that reason. so it's going to complicate the process. i think the pictures are nothing new. it confirms who we know, that we are dealing with a brutal regime. the big question is what is the international community going to do with the pictures. will they pursue policies that will bring an end to the horror story or allow the syrian regime to be respected at the international table, given a voice and if it refuses to

compromise, everyone goes home and throws their hands in the air. that's the question that feeds to be answered. >> we have talked on the program about the refugee situation, the numbers of families, children forced from their homes internally and externally displaced. is there indication that there could be movement to provide greater aid for them. >> there was a meeting in kuwait where there has been a lot of pledges. the syrian refugees don't want to stay refugees, they want to go home. dealing with the refugee problem, divorced from the root of problems, and all indications are that more refugees will be produced, suggests that the plight and the prospects of refugees does not look good until and unless the roots of the conflict are going to be addressed in these diplomatic negotiations. it doesn't seem, based on the

structure and the set up of the geneva process, that the roots of this conflict - that produce the conflict and the refugees will be addressed. >> seems like a long term process. we appreciate you being with us. thank you for being with us. >> coming up next, lethal prescriptions in a growing number of states. the terminally ill tell us there's more to it. their fight for the right to die when we return.

>> now, a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." tax season is upon us. the wealth americans will feel it the most. tax rate for those earning for than 400,000 is 39.6%. because of changes to the fiscal cliff, filing was delayed. some things never change. taxes, and the deadline, which is still april 15th. president and the pope will take up a discussion of shared interest. the two men will meet during the president obama european tour. the president plans to talk about poverty and inequality with pope francis. >> shooting on kansas at a university left one dead. it was a teaching assistant. the victim is in custody, and others reported yelling in the halls of the electrical engineering building. >> if you have been at the side of a terminally ill family member you know the final days

of life can be painful. what if there was another option? last week a new mexico judge ruled that terminally ill patients have the right to assisted suicide. the ruling probably will be appeal. adam may learns about the right to die movement in vermont, one of the first states to accept the controversial decision. >> ben knows he's living on borrowed time. >> sometimes it's jugging. >> 10 years ago he was diagnose with a rare and deadly blood cancer. he moved to vermont after clem, drawn to the small-town charm and natural beauty. he found it the perfect place to live. now he's planning to die here. >> i don't fear death.

death is easy. life is hard. >> if you were goifteiven a cou of years to live and you are here 10 years later. >> when i was diagnosed i was 44, and life expectancy at the time was three to four years. >> what is it like to get that diagnosis? >> you don't have a choice. i had people bathe me, i was in bed for a while from bone damage. i understand there's things i can't do and i have to ask for help. there's a point where you know it will get so bad that you can't do anything for yourself. someone else is keeping you alive in existence for what, three extra weeks. i had seven extra years already. so three weeks is nothing. >> the 54-year-old insurance agent was the driving force behind a controversial law.

underhill lobbied state lawmakers to legalize physician assist the suicide. >> if this bill passes i'll be comfortable knowing if things are too bearable in my last weeks, i can end my life. >> we now live in an area where other states have not gone. >> vermont's governor signed the death with dignity. >> this will be the first legislative effort where the governor has the privilege to sign the bill. >> i have no fear that i will ask for the medication. will i get to the point where i'll take it or i feel so bad that i have to take it. i don't know. >> what is it about dying that way that is more comforting to you. >> it's on my terms. >> vermont is one of five states

where physician-assisted suicide is permitted. new mexico could be the sixth state if a court ruling is not appealed. it is happening in other states, involving a controversial group operating in the shadows. it's called the final exit network. >> the difference - he liked pub lifty. it's a private thing. >> dr leary eggbert used to be long to the group. he keeps a home in maryland. you make the patient put the bag on their head and turn the nozzle. you are not physically doing it. >> i'm physically doing nothing. >> each of these go to the tappitank. eggbert she had us what he uses

to help people guy. modify turkey bags filled with tools that hook up to helium tanks. >> it's like toys r us. i asked a patient one time, i said would she be willing that some other person use this >> eggbetter used an exit hood like this to hep many people end their lives. >> the fact that she will be giving a gift to someone else. >> recycled them. >> reused them. >> has this one been used. >> what is the process like for the patient. >> if a person reading it doesn't feel pain or discomfort. they go to sleep. >> you hold their hand. how many times have you held someone's hand through their final moments? >> about 100.

it's an hop our. yes, an honour is a good way to put it. >> you want to put it on. >> i don't want you to suffocate. >> don't worry about that. >> since assisted suicide is illegal, dr eggbert faced criminal charges in a handful of justices. he's yet to be convicted. eggbert will help anyone die regardless of whether their medical continue is terminal. he is unapologetic. >> i don't think the terminally ill is a reasonable criteria. i think a person has a choice to think about what they do. for example, i have a man that called me up. he's 94 years old, totally deaf. if they want to go >> you think he should have the choice. >> yes, i do. you have the choice, you could buy a rifle and blow your brains out. you have that right.

why not have a physician advise you how to do it in a dignified way. >> in the end someone is pulling a helium balloon over their head. >> you don't have to do it that way. you save up the pills or get the pills, it's up to you. >> he's pulling balloons over people's heads, i think it's creepy. >> kerry is against all forms of assisted suicide. she's leading the effort to repeal vermont's death with dignity law. >> it's the exception, not the rule, that death is ugly and scary. they want you to think that the only way to make it proceed is to plan it and take a pill for it. and i don't believe that frankly mother nature is that cruel. >> how old was your mother when she passed? >> 90. >> she was 90. >> yes, she had a good life. >> she is motivated by family

experiences. she recently sat at her mother's side as she died a natural death. >> what is your concern with the legislation passed in vermont. >> i want the option to die naturally. i don't want an environment in the future where people are pressured into ending their life prematurely. >> do you think people want to live? i think people want to live, basically. until they can't live any more. >> gene malare was married to vermont's former congressman dick malare. he represented the state and the u.s. house in the 1970s. he returned to vermont as a leader in state politics. dick was legendry in the state. they don't make it like this. >> clearly the time has come. after being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer

malare and her life began to bring assisted suicide in vermont. >> we hope it's in time for us. >> but dispute their televised appeal early versions of the law failed. dig malare took his own life in 2011. >> it was a beautiful fall day. and i came home. i found a note on the door. >> do you mind sharing what the note said. "to jeannie and my family. the time has come. i have done everything that i wanted to do, and i don't - i don't regret my life. he knew it would be a shock to me. but i feel that this is what people who make this decision go through. they weigh the benefits.

and the burdens. he certainly didn't want to put us through watching him become helpless, and - and he didn't want to be nursed. you know, he was a proud man. my hugest regret is that i couldn't be with him. and that's because it was not legal. >> with the new law in vermont. if ben chooses physician-assisted suicide. he can be surrounded by family at the end. >> i would much rather go out on the terms i want to go out, feeling good, being happy, being comfortable, being with the people i love, than laying in bed suffering. and i think it's almost an enlightened position of not having to suffer at the end of the >> the avid baseball fan is

planning for his death. >> i found out you have to have five hours bean planning for the meal and taking the medicine. i would have to take the pills, fall sleep. >> this is such a gift to people. it is such a gift. they just don't know it yet: our correspondent tells us that there has been plenty of push back against the louse, not just from the church. mean doctors and disability rights activists argue that it could encourage people with disabilities to embrace death. even if the latest drilling in new mexico stands, it is clear that this is a fight far from over. >> we'll look at new ways to support the gravely ill on our next program, when technology

offers the answer to an unbearable existence. >> he said, "i feel like a ghost looking at my family", he begged me to take his lix life. he had it all planned out that i was to shoot him. this gave him a purpose. using robots to try to free up paralyzed people. it could be something as small as holding a plastic device so that henry could rub his head on it and scratch his head for the first time. >> robots for human di, large and small. how they can make the difference. that story wednesday. >> next in our program tonight: pressure mounts on an ancient tradition, why they say u.s.

critics are being unfair. television event, al jazeera america takes you beyond the debate. experience first hand the tragic journey of these migrants. >> a lot of people don't have a clue what goes on until you live near the boarder. >> six strangers with different points of view... >> i don't believe in borders. >> our government is allowing an invasion. >> ...get to experience illegal immigration, up close and personal. >> its very overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. >> a lot of families that don't know where their babies went. >> i want to make sure that her life, its remembered. >> what happens when lost lives are relived. >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves. >> on borderland. only on al jazeera america. >> any of you guys want to come to the united states?

animals because somebody wants to shoot one of them? what happens when they say they want to shoot a mountain gorilla or an aidsian elephant? >> dangerous road. let me say that if these folks at the safari club are so interested, they want to contribute to the good programs, they don't need to link their contribution to the notion of killing an individual animal. give them money. >> that's what conservationists do every day. >> where do you stand on i will facts and their tusks? you just talked about the value of a rhinosaurus horns. how about elephant tusks? the counter argument is that destroy that only serves to drive up the cost. i really

>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america check

check check check check... check you know, that's a great point. the answer is yes. that has to follow strict criteria. so there's no detriment, if some are removes. there are practices permitted by the national marine fisheries services to do health assessments. during the practices, people like myself and others will handle them safely, collect data and let them go. following the standards we can do this in a humane way. we could draw animals. if you wanted to start from china and you wanted to acquire dolphins without purchasing them, there's another way to do it, to go into the wild and capture them. there's certainly ways to discovery wild population to

determine how many pop lieulations were there. there was a point in time where some animals should have been collected humanely and brought in to ensure we had animals for the future or reintro doofed. the time has passed. doing it in a human fashion is critical. >> billy hurley is former president and board member of the alliance and marine. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> ahead in our final thoughts this evening. an independent woman in a redwood backyard. an-american treasure, building treasures. me.

>> i'm looking for the bright orange, that's a good sign. that means it's a piece of solid. i recycle old stumps off the forest floors. i don't know what the true classification of an old growth tree is. if you thing about it, 500-year-old tree, that's old. i work on a lot of stuff harvested back in the late 1800s. the guys that harvested that stuff wanted the creme de la creme pieces and left it. being able to recycle the product to its fullest, that's huge. all i do is open it up, create something bust for the rest of us to enjoy. when i started 13 years ago i had a pick up truck, a high lift jack and determination.

as i got older i surrendered. i didn't need more help. in the beginning i didn't have anyone helping me because i didn't want to. there was something about just getting it done on my own, in my own space, time and way that was perfectly fine by me. unfortunately as we get older we have to get smarter. so to have equipment, yes, it's a definite grace and ease. but it's nice to know that if i need to move something without all those fancy tools, that there is not a log in this yard i cannot move by hand. old growth is old growth, it speaks for itself, it's quality wood, the tight, tight grain that it provide.

that's the thing about this stuff. you have to understand how to maximise potential through the fullest. i had a grin on my face when i saw grain or lumber. doesn't get better than that. it really doesn't. the value of the product and the quality of the wood i had that snild into me by my dad. he was a master carpenter. he could put wood into a final product. i can take the rough tree and turn it into a rough product. dad brought my first mill and taught me to read logs. he's very, very critical. that is good. that taught me quality control.

dad was born in the 1920s. there was a pride on how you built things back in those days. how to really take your time and making is really, really special and beautiful. i always tried to cut as if my dad was standing behind me saying, "look, you have to get that better." there's an energy around redwood trees, old growth red wood trees, an experience that everybody should feel. i mean, your in amongst some of the oldest trees on the planet. you are taught to respect your elders, i guess that would be it from me. old growth redwood is an elder. the stories are unique and they are real. these trees can't tabling. the only way to talk is to show

what they have inside them. when i open them up, it's like they are opening their arms up to me and embracing me. to say, you know, "let's see what you got, make me shine even more so than i already do." >> that was our american treasure. that's it it for us. goodnight. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow.

> hello from doha. this is the newshour on al jazeera. >> the peace summit in syria has just begun in switzerland, but already the tension is showing. >> i will finish one sentence. >> one sentence just keep your promise, one sentence. >> syria always keeps its promise. >> also ahead two people killed in the ukraine as police