I'm pretty uniquely situated to discuss this:

- I was homeschooled from K-8 then went to regular school from 8-12

- I am a state certified middle school teacher in TX

- I taught 5th and 6th grade public school in TX and AK

- I've volunteered at a private democratic free school

- I've taught at the university level as a tutor and then as a assistant professor

American public schools use one of the worst pedagogical systems. If you do any research into the field, you are quickly confronted with uncomfortable realities like:

- Bloom's Two Sigma problem: "the educational phenomenon that the average student tutored one-to-one using mastery learning techniques performed two standard deviations better than students educated in a classroom environment." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_sigma_problem

- democratic free school students earn more than their peers and graduate from college at a higher rate

- some of the most respected educators in America have walked away from the public school system calling it a "12-year jail sentence in which bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned" https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html

It is true that some homeschoolers graduate with below average social skills - but the same is true for half of all public school students. Some homeschoolers test behind the public school average - just like half of public school students. On the other hand, luminaries of our field point out that one on one tutoring (which often happens with home schoolers) more often produces students significantly ahead of public school classrooms.

There just is no way to have a classroom as effective as one on one tutoring. A parent who cares and does their best to organize all the amazing and free resources can easily match the quality of classroom instruction. And it doesn't have to take 6+ hours a day. Plenty of homeschoolers test in the top 10% of their state with just an hour or two a day of effort. Even one hour a day per child can outpace a public school classroom.

Obviously homeschooling is not for every family. If you've got two working parents who commute, it might not work out without some kind of co-op or micro-school.

But if you are in the fence, homeschooling can be very effective. There's plenty of sports, meetups, co-ops, social events, and free online resources. It's possible to produce a fantastic education for your children without sending them to public school.

Public school should be thought of as the lowest common denominator to exceed, not the pinnacle to reach for. Don't do what my mom tried for a few months and set up desks and try to lecture. You aren't trying to remake a classroom with lectures and homework, you're providing a rich environment filled with intrinsic motivation. You're not trying to force your children to conform to the rigid and demotivational rules of public school, you're freeing them to follow their own interests. You aren't trying to make an educational cattle chute with easily graded standardized tests, you're letting them grow and never lose that sense of wonder, creativity, and critical thinking.

Additional resources on how children often need very little instruction at all:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH-W5bk7sE0

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFAhWrLfm-0

- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201003...