Nice. Having home schooled our children I have to say that it is definitely a conversation starter and not always in a good way. Its interesting that the list posted though only tangentially touches on the the crux of the issue.<p>The public is being bombarded with messages every day that education in the US has apparently fallen below every country in Africa in terms of how much we spend on our children and fallen behind every other 'first world' nation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The outcome is that people who are unable to home school but wish they could apparently feel threatened by those who do.<p>At our house the decision to take our kids out of school was not easily taken. It meant that either my or I would be spending our 'life capital' investing in the elementary school education of our children rather than on other aspects such as maybe career points, starting a new company, or building a service organization to help the less fortunate. Since we were looking at what was essentially a 8 to 12 year commitment (we weren't sure if we'd want them to go to an institutional type high school or not) there was a potential to use that time to do any number of things. So if someone tells you they are home schooling their kids understand also it tells you what they are not doing.<p>Not everyone is a good teacher, but anyone who has graduated from college and is committed can teach their kids what they need to know prior to entering high school.<p>Public education is broken in a number of ways, both in how they allocate resources and how they evaluate effectiveness. Private education more able to evaluate and allocate effectively is not necessarily affordable to everyone, home schooling, for those who have both the time and the ability to make the economics work out, is, in my experience, very effective at providing the foundation.
><i>"We all hate you, so please go away."</i><p>><i>"We...laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky."</i><p>><i>"So go be shallow somewhere else."</i><p>><i>"It's not fair"</i><p>><i>"shut up!"</i><p>Apparently, the author attended public school in the seventh grade. Unfortunately, the author still relies upon the same set of social skills. Ironically, the author makes secular homeschooling appear less like a well considered decision made by a thoughtful adult.