Home schooling is not a good option

Let me say right off that I enjoyed this debate. Nothing too nasty, very factual, and I did learn a lot. So thank you for this debate. Now, to rebut and restate.I applaud you for your financial opposition. I have found those to be true, and I must be honest, I cannot defend that. However, I can defend your extracurricular statements just fine. I have found that first off, extracurricular activities help students academically, creates higher attendance, and helps students prepare and be motivated for education beyond high school. Here is a chart I found to be very surprising: EC Act No EC Act No unexcused absences* 50.4 36.2 Never skipped classes* 50.7 42.3 Have a GPA of 3.0 or above 30.6 10.8 Highest quartile on a composite math and reading assessment 29.8 14.2 Expect to earn a bachelor's degree or higher 68.2 48.2[ http://nces.ed.gov... ]So right off the bat we see that participation in after school acitivies help a lot. But which ones help the most? In 2005 Darling et al. found that though athletics did help student's overall attitude and academic achievements, students who participated in non athletics, such as fine arts, had a far better attitude in general, better grades, and achieved more. Here is a list of the average public school has for options for extracurricular activities in the fine arts: String Orchestra Full Orchestra Concert Band Marching Band Jazz Band Applied Instrument Lessons Music Theory Music Composition Music History Piano Concert Choir Show Choir Jazz Choir Applied Voice Lessons Introduction to Art 3-D Design Photography Graphic Design Art Club Drawing and Painting AP Studio Art Drama Music Theatre Speech Debate [ http://old.dmps.k12.ia.us... ] And here is a list of what an average home schooling system has for Fine Art activities: Musical instrument lessons Singing lessons Joining a local children’s choir 2-D and 3-D art classes Tap dance, ballet, jazz dance classes [http://www.educationbug.org...] Now what about sports? Well as I stated earlier, they are somewhere in between fine arts participation and no participation in terms of academic excellence, grades, and attitudes, but any participation is better than none, right? So here is a list of an average school's sports opportunities: Archery - Baseball - Basketball - Bowling - Cheer/Spirit Squad - Cross Country - Dance - Drill - Field Hockey - Football - Golf - Gymnastics - Hockey - Lacrosse - Martial Arts - Rowing / Crew - Rugby - Skiing - Soccer - Softball - Swimming/Diving - Tennis - Track - Volleyball - Water Polo - Wrestling • Non - school / club sports - ASA softball - Competitive / club soccer • Intramural sports (basketball, volleyball, floor hockey, etc.) • Swim Class Assistant • Martial Arts Assistant[ http://mycollegecalendar.org... ] And here are the home schooling options I found: Golf Horseback riding Skiing (cross country or alpine) Membership on local park and recreation teams [ http://www.educationbug.org... ] Obviously the regular schools have so many more, giving those students much more options to choose from, allowing them to be more successful academically, with better attitudes and grades. Now before I finish off, I have one more argument. Kids who get home schooled only learn as much as their parent knows. If they don't have a teacher' degree, and aren't quite sure how to do 9th grade geometry, then they'll be in trouble. Sure they'll have an idea of how to teach, and I don't doubt there is training and courses for them to take, but since they aren't official, licensed teachers (which goes back to the not getting paid, making thee financial situation hard) they won't be giving their child the same education as kids who go to public schools. Thank you for a good debate, I hope we can possibly do it again.