I hope the admins don't take this the wrong way. I just feel that as someone who was homeschooled all there life I should speak.
One of the biggest things people are saying is stiffled social life. I definatly was not stifled. I socialized with many families that also homeschooled. I made friends and enjoyed there company. My mother also has the belief that public school offers an artificial enviorment. (I am not trying to diss public school. I know people who went to public school and are fine individuals) She believes that it is not true to the real world to have all the 6th graders in one room and all the 7th graders in another. In the real world all ages are mingaled. Seperating them is artificial. That is why she liked to let us socialize with kids above and below our age. Doing so you learn to interact with all age groups.
As to the ability of the parent to teach, my mother went to college to be a teacher. Now, in my life, I see this as God preparing her to teach me and my siblings. But even with that education there where times when she learned right along with me. When we got to a point, mostly in the higher algebras, where she was having trouble she would discuss it with a family friend who is also a teacher. I fully understand that not every parent has the ability to homeschool for one reason or another. If that is the case I fully agree with Mave. The parent
must be there for there children and give them strong moral guidence. The
parent is the entity in a childs life that should mold them into the individual God has called them to be.
Also as to the point of being prepared for college. When I finished high school and took the placment test for my local college I tested in at Level 151 math and 101 english. My counelor took one look at my scores and asked me why I wasn't full time. Even then I have aced all but one of the classes I have taken. Math 151 was like a rehash of what my mother tought me in high school. My mom pushed me hard and even though I got C's in high school english all four years for the most part, because she held me to such a standard getting A's in english 101 and 102 was easy for me. I flunked algebra 2 the first time around and had to take it again, and because she had me do it again I scored an 98% on math 151.
Please, please understand that I am not flaming public schools. I will only say that I echo Mave's post. If a parent doesn't have the ability to educate there child at home they must make sure they are the ones teaching there child morality and not the public school system. I plan to homeschool my children because I feel it has so much to offer a child.
With that said I will cease ranting