Here's my .02..... I know several people who have chosen to home school their children, and I think it is a viable option and good for kids. The whole "under socialized" thing is a myth. Yes, you can home school improperly, but from what I have seen parents use the extra time gained from flexible schedules and no time in between classes to invite friends over and go to activities. This leads to my next point. There is time enough after school for most of the lower grades and some of the higher to pursue their interests, such as doing some for-fun research and gaining valuable life education from things such as cleaning, cooking, and how to run a house. When public schooled, homework quickly eats up much of your afternoon and leaves little time for extra learning and growing in subjects NOT taught in schools. The average parent knows enough to get their kid thru middle school. After that, there are several online courses and even DVDs to help teach students. Another thing which does change the ballpark a bit is most families I know are rather large, so they all learn to "roll with the punches" from a young age. No fragile under socialized flowers there.... They work hard and play harder. Homeschooling is not for everyone, but it certainly works for many.I would love to hear peoples opinion on home schooling. It is a very American thing, and where I come from if you don't send your kids to school you go to jail and your kids go into foster care. I get that it is a personal choice here, and know plenty of people who have home schooled, and the reasons varied from "I wanted to because it would be fun for me", to "I can give them a better education than public school", to "I don't want my kids exposed to evil ideas that others may have I cannot control". These latter were usually extremely religious people. Also "it is easier to keep them at home than having to get my kids to school and back every day". I get that there are bad schools, but the people I know who homeschool have excellent local schools and it is nothing to do with that. 2 people I work with have super smart well educated spouses (one went to Stanford, and another to MIT) so you may think they are suitable parents to teach their kids everything. But are they? What is taught in school has changed so much with technology and science over the last 20 years. I know there are on-line resources to help home schoolers, but why not just go to school and "top up" at home?
How can 1 (or 2) parents replace 3 whole schools worth of modern teaching experience and know even a fraction of what they collectively know?
Also at school you learn to interact in a normal way with other people, and learn about boundaries and deadlines, so when you go to university (or work) you have some life experience and don't go completely off the rails.
