Based on ethnographic observations of homeschooling control visits and on interviews with individual education inspectors, this article studies how the inspectors form their judgments far from the school, in the context of homeschooling. The analysis shows that the final verdict of the inspectors is based on two evaluative operations. Beyond an assessment of family dysfunctions or of a lack of education and based on a principle of suspicion (educational normality judgment), the inspectors support their verdict by their spontaneous knowledge of the social world and some clues identified during their visit (pedagogical reliability judgment). Because of the very short amount of time they can dedicate to these control visits, the inspectors focus on certain details and strive to form a coherent judgment of the situation under evaluation. These judgments are indicative of the complex, sometimes tense, relationships between the school institution and the families situated at its margins.