We homeschool our children and it has been an overall good experience. We solved the socialization issue by enrolling them in dance, martial arts, sports, theater and other structured social activities that allow them to socialize in a constructive environment.<p>The stigma of homeschooling is wearing off as more and more people see the product of homeschooling. To me the socialization was over-plaid where homeschoolers where branded as religious fundamentalist that where trying to segment themselves and their children off from society. The thing to remember when people say that it somehow damaged children is, that school is the unnatural environment.<p>The history of children being massed into an environment with few adults to supervise has a relatively short history. With further laws restricting those that do not want to be there from leaving, it has become a recipe for disaster. Before legislation mandating attendance, the bad apples naturally fell away from the environment, now that they are mandated to stay they have become a drag and influence on the ones that remained.<p>Why homeschooling is seen as an eccentric solution is beyond me, when it is becoming one of the few logical choices based on the overwhelming evidence available that public education is failing.
<i>At this point the only reason I wouldn’t home school is because I selfishly do not want to spend all of my time home schooling.</i><p>This is a misperception. Under California law (where I homeschooled some years back), one legal option to homeschool is to hire a tutor for 3 hours a day. Not 8 hours, just 3. And there is good reason for that: The one-on-one teaching model is far more intensive than the 8 hours a day where one teacher is splitting her attention amongst 20 to 40 students. Trying to do 8 hours a day of one-on-one instruction would be a good way to burn out everyone involved.<p>One book or article I read indicated that one homeschooling parent went and observed at school and concluded that only 1 to 3 hours out of the day was spent actually doing school work. The rest was spent calling roll, getting in line, changing classes, going to lunch and so on. It was less time and effort for me to homeschool than to send my kids to public school. (I took my extra time and went to college part-time while homeschooling.)<p>Best of luck with your decision.