Welcome to Home Schooling 101, brought to you by the beloved forum idiot.

While responding to a comment by one of the other MyUMBC forumites denigrating home schooling, I was about to launch into a lecture about home schooling, but I decided to post this instead. Bear in mind, I am not saying home schooling is worse of better than public schooling... I don't want a debate. Rather, I just want to make sure that people have an accurate description of what it entails.

The common misperception seems to be that home schooling consists of parents rebelling against "the system" by yanking their kids out of public school and subjecting them to years of inconsistent, error-laden sit-down lessons about everything from physics to American history, straight from those parents' memory, so that in a few years the kids can eek out a passing grade on the GED test and start their exciting career as a cashier.

Alternatively, some seem to think that "home schooling" consists of dropping your kid in front of a computer and forcing them to watch videos on Khan Academy (which mind you is an excellent website).

Both these conceptions are woefully inaccurate. They may have been closer to the truth twenty or thirty years ago, but today, home schooling and its cousin, cyber schooling are entirely different animals. There are reasons beyond the erosion of quality and safety in public schools.

For example, twenty years ago, "classwork" was one-third to a half of the total grade in classes. During a class, the teacher would present a new lesson, give a summary of it, have a number of classroom exercises, and then send the students off with a homework assignment. Today, the role of classwork, and by extension, the need for teachers to be skilled instructors it is far less. Most of the class consists of reviewing homework, with a new lesson introduced that the students need to study on their own at home and complete assignments for as the next day's  homework. With the exception of technical and lab classes, this is the new norm. For the most part, all the teachers do is provide an oral summary of what is in the textbook and provide special assistance to struggling students.

With so much more emphasis on homework, the role of the teacher in the classroom has become less "instructor" and more "guide". That being said, the ability of a parent to, with sufficient time available in their day, serve the role of the teacher is now much greater.

Now for the basics.

First, home schooling programs are not parent-produced, only parent-directed. While the parents can adjust schedules and the way the cirriculum is presented, they still must meet the requirements of the school board for each year of study in order to have it counted towards a diploma.

Second, There is oversight in home-schooling programs. This is usually done by certified teachers and sometimes even professors. These certified instructors review the student's progress several times a semester, keep up regular communication with parents, and may assist the student if they fail to advance. Yes, the ratio is about 1000 students to a single instructor, but that is hardly any different from what college students recieve from lecturers in a lecture hall setting.

Third, home-schooling programs typically have a textbook assigned (they may not if it's a cyber-school program), which the student is required to review from cover to cover. These textbooks are every bit as professional as the ones public school students receive, if not more... and they aren't cheap, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars. Usually, a home-schooled student will have three, four textbooks... one for each subject, produced by "experts in the field".

Fourth, home schooling programs are not cheap. Most run into the hundreds of dollars, and many even into the thousands... this on top of the money the parent already pays in taxes towards the public school system (which means more money for public school students who can't afford such programs).

Fifth, there is tremendous choice in home-schooling programs. Some programs are rather advanced and designed for sharper students, while others are more basic. Some have a christian tilt and emphasize life skills, while others cut out religion and emphasize science. Some are uniquely designed for minorities and first-generation American students, while others put special emphasis on trade skills. In fact, the amount of variety a parent can find in home schooling is far greater than they will find at one-size-fits-all public schools.

Lastly, home schooling isn't just an American phenomenon. In fact, in most of the countries that are trouncing the US in terms of Math and Science scores, home schooling is an everyday part of a child's education. Some parents, seeking to give their children an even greater advantage, enroll them in both public school and home schooling.

Really, the greatest disadvantage to home-schooling is that it limits a child's exposure to other children and impacts their social and psychological development. Some parents prefer this, which is a contributing factor in their choice to enroll their child in home schooling. Others don't enroll their children specifically for this reason. Still others try and make up for it by scheduling lots of social events for their children.

At the same time, with expanding telecommunication capabilities and new social networking sites popping up everywhere, the need for in-school social interaction is gradually fading. Some parents even prefer the online socialization, because they can monitor it, rather than dropping the kids off at school where just about anything can happen.

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No, this huge essay wasn't a copypasta. I sort of came up with it on my own, based on an examination of the home schooling and cyber schooling programs that many of my friends and family have used with their children, as well as a number of articles I've read, including one which you can access from the "visit website" button at the end of this OP. As such, take everything with a grain of salt. After all, I'm just the beloved forum idiot.