In the eyes of many public school teachers and administrators, a lack of quality control makes home schooling a dangerously deregulated enterprise. Another fear is that some parents may be keeping their children out of school for the wrong reasons, such as not wanting them to mix with children of other races or so they can work in a family business. Most of the few studies of home schooling students' academic performance suggest that they generally perform well on standardized tests. Such examinations, though, cannot show whether they would have done just as well in conventional schools. And given that some home schooling families still remain underground, it's impossible to say exactly how representative such test results are.
Few states ask, let alone track, parents' reasons for home schooling.
Jon's Homeschool Resource Page . This study uses data collected from over 5,000 home-schooled students to address various questions surrounding the quality of home education. Read a practical guide to discussing school violence with children, from the Family Education Network . Access homeschooling resources from Home Education Magazine .