I always been wonder, Why do parents choose to homeschool their kids? Among common reasons that were cited in a National Center for Education Statistics study were that parents:

-believed that they could give their child a better education at home
-had religious reasons
-thought that their children had a poor learning enviornment at school
-had family reasons
-wanted to develop character and morality
-objected to what schools teach
-thought that their school wasn't challenging their child

Some other characteristics of homeschoolers:

75% are white, non-Hispanic, while only 65% of nonhomeschoolers are white.
many come from families with 3 or more children
97% of homeschooling parents were married couples. This isn't surprising, since in a single parent home, that parent usually has to work outside the home
the household income of homeschoolers, reported in ranges from less than $25,000 to over $75,000, is the same as the household income of nonhomeschoolers

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I think you've covered it. I know people who homeschool because of what their children were learning (from the other children), because they felt it was the thing for their family, and every item on the list you gave. I homeschool because it was something my husband and I prayed about and felt led to do. It is a year by year decision.
Does that help any?

I also homeschool - and I have from the beginning. Many people I know do it for religious reasons (ie. object to teaching evolution in school) but I do it because I think the whole structure of public school is unnatural and does not encourage true learning.

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We did not homeschool, however I know many people who have and for them it was a personal decisin with a very strong religious aspect to it as well. I have beenvery happy with my son's public schooling education, however if I hadn't been, I would not have been averse to homeschooling. He is an only child though, so I think the social aspect would have been an issue to work with as well.

From a social aspect I think that homeschooling is a bad idea. From an intellectual aspect I think the homeschooling is great. I've known some kids growing up in my neighborhood that were homeschooled and they were always made fun of. They weren't the cool kids on the block so hardly anyone hung out with them. When it came to college entrance exams, SATs, ACTs, they rocked those exams. If your kids can get through the hard social times as a kid (of course this isn't the circumstance in every situation), when it comes to college no one will really care if your child was homeschooled or not.

Being in public school in no way means that kids won't be made fun of. On the flip side, neither does homeschooling. Kids are, after all, kids.

As for the social aspect, homeschoolers socialize all the time (atleast in our state). If we wanted to, we could do a play day, field trip, or some kind of get together almost every day of the week.

I started homeschooling not really knowing what I was getting into. My oldest son was only four at the time. Even now, five years later, I still don't always know what I'm getting into. The thing that keeps me going is having that first hand knowledge of what my child is learing and how, and being able to reinforce those lessons through out the day.

Besides, I'm finally getting to learn all that stuff I should have learned when I wasn't paying attention in school

I actually had a child at a park tell my son "You're weird" and stop playing with him. Why? That boy wanted to play some cartoon fighting game and my son had no clue what he was talking about. My son suggested they play Lewis & Clark's adventures (we were reading about them at the time). I'm glad my son likes to read and learn things other than what cartoon creature can kick another one's butt using telekinesis or whatever.

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I agree with you. I think that kids these days are exposed to too many negative things out there. I think back to when I was a kid and we didn't even know what sex was until late jr high early hs. I grew up in a fairly large city, but it definately wasn't the city. Now I live in a fairly large city and the kids these days lack respect for elders and the things that come out of their mouths! It's terrible. What ever happened to innocent kids? I'm definately thinking about moving back to a smaller city to raise my kids. Maybe it's the big city and all the drugs and other things that they are exposed to kind of in a way corrupts them at such an early age. What are everyone else's thoughts?

Unfortuantely, I think the days of "innocent kids" are over. If I were to come across one, I would not be surprised they'd jsut arrived form a very tiny little town from somewhere I'd never heard of. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that you can't have kids who are respectufl and kind. That's all a matter of parenting, whether they are homeschooled or not.

What do you consider an 'innocent kid?'

Also, I don't think the purpose of homeschooling a child is to exclude them from the outside world. It may be to keep them away from perceived evils (for the religious homeschoolers), but, from the many I have met, these kids are not shut away from the world.

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