Lots of interesting feedback. Sure, there probably are still some good schools where parents can depend on their children being well prepared academically for college. But having taught at both the Air Force Academy and a big state school (physics and calculus), I can tell you that in most states, the majority of students with ACT scores near and below average are poorly prepared for these college courses both in their study habits and in their skills and knowledge in science and math.
Sure, students also need to be well prepared for the onslaught of temptations that await them in college. An 18 year old college student should be better prepared to face temptations to common excesses of college years. However, in many public schools direct exposure to these destructive behaviors can become very common in middle and high school. Home school provides a way to reduce exposures to destructive behaviors and related temptations until the student is sufficiently prepared to resist them. Having taught in several public schools, my wife and I have seen that these schools' efforts and abilities to provide learning environments with manageable levels of these destructive behaviors and temptations is far, far less than it was when we attended public schools 30-40 years ago.
The view of home schooling that assumes that parents and siblings are the only peers is skewed and demonstrates that those commenting did not even read the original article. One wonders if public school advocates and graduates have a habit of commenting before actually reading. Most home school students have increasing amounts of peer interactions through middle school and high school. 10-20 hours per week is typical for high schoolers, including sports, youth groups, college classes, high school coursework, clubs, and other extracurriculars. In addition to lots of extracurriculars and sports, our approach is for our students to gradually acclimate to college work and life starting with at least one college course in 10th grade and increasing to five college courses in the 12th grade.
Having taught both high school and college, I am surprised at the high esteem many posters have for the socialization skills of public school students. Public schools are churning out vast numbers of graduates today with an entitlement mentality and woefully inadequate comprehension of personal responsibility as well as woefully inadequate communication skills. Even now, nearly every time I drop my students off at a local college campus, I see tons of public school products walking around with their heads buried in a cell phone. Is that the social diversity and skill set my home schooled students are supposedly lacking? No thanks.
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