Political Memes

Well for background my wife was public schooled and did pretty well. Honors, AP classes, extracurriculars, good grades,etc. Ultimately she still felt held back while also having similar concerns to me with how public school can shape a child, and we ultimately discussed this over the years candidly before having kids and came to the conclusion that we would try homeschooling. Our state partially contributed to that decision, similar to the other user's reply mentioning being in Utah.

I don't want to put down teachers or public schools because I do believe they have a positive benefit of lifting these boats but let's also be clear: they're very much a cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all institution. They don't do well with outliers. The very notion of these institutions seemed born more out of the fact that our system needed child daycare to maintain an adult workforce undistracted from raising kids. I'll rapid-fire some of our bigger reasons for choosing to homeschool our kids:

Public School tends to be where creativity and passion go to the die. My wife (the smarter better half) talked about this. She suffered serious burnout and as a result by the time college came around lost a lot of interest despite her being very book-smart and having photographic memory. She always admired my own passion and curiosity for knowledge by contrast.

Peer-pressure, band-wagoning fallacies are potent. In public school there very much exists this Blind-Leading-the-Blind mentality that shapes right from wrong — popular from unpopular. That can be extremely detrimental and crippling especially to those who tend to be outsiders by default. When you have fellow children dictating norms more so than adults, that can set up an extremely toxic environment.

And that's reflected in rising adolescent suicidal/homicidal rates. And while I'm here and despite the statistical improbability I'd be remiss if I didn't say we had concern for school shootings just the same. It should be noted that my own mom pulled my older sister from school because of bullying and sexual harassment and that's where it all began for the rest of us. (I should point out that at the time my household was religious, though I wouldn't go so far as to say fundamentalist. We've all since changed from conservative religious Republicans to progressive leftist non-religious Democrats... Well except one of my siblings).

Related to the former, there tends to be less adult oversight and less dedicated attention. In Public schools you get 1:15 or 1:30 teacher-student ratios; with homeschooling you have a PARENT who cares more about your future than any teacher would in a 1:1-4 ratio, generally. And again not to downplay what teachers do, but the vast majority of grade-school work isn't post-graduate by definition... There are well-established curricula and teaching methods that can be used as templates. And in this day, it's easier than ever with massive resources that weren't even fully available to my generation: state resources, supplementary cyber-school programs, robust libraries, etc.

While there isn't a ton of data out there, what does exist seems to show that homeschooled kids do tend to perform above-average both academically in life satisfaction. I'll dig up my sources of these for those further interested. There is a lot of concern about socialization, which you can still get by becoming involved in local communities, get into team sports, martial arts, improv/theater, volunteer work, etc. Ultimately I think there is just as much risk to public school teaching the wrong kind of social skills as opposed to learning the good kind.

Do I think homeschooling is for everyone? No. And that applies not just to the uniqueness of the child but also the circumstances and willingness of the parents. On the flip-side, I don't believe public schooling is for everyone either. I don't think I would've done well, but I do think someone like my sister would have. There are particular advantages in precision-targeting education to interests and personality. Catering to adhd, autism, social sensitivities, etc.

We want our kid to be surrounded by adults who love them; to be role-models rather than the loudest biggest kid in their classroom. We want our kids to maintain their passion for curiosity and learning and to grow in their own unique way without being forced into a one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter box often found in public schools.

To your final point that often gets raised about, "preparing for the real world," the "real world" is QUITE different from public school, which can feel like an inescapable prison for many kids. Why? Because they have no agency as an adolescent. They are forced to go back to their hell-hole every day and not even have a modicum of protection from the school who tends to look the other way. Meanwhile your own parents have very limited capacity to help you.... But when you're an adult... At least there's a level of decorum even for those bullies who grow up... And at least you have the capacity to say fuck-you in most cases and ghost someone, leave your job, and so forth. A child doesn't have nearly the same agency, which is what makes school so difficult for many. And sure, some come through the other side despite severe bullying successfully, but I'd caution against making a survivor-bias fallacy.

Hopefully this gives a little insight into our perspective even if you may not necessarily agree personally.

The short answer is the ability to tailor the entire learning experience to one child's specific needs and interests. For example: My sister loves cooking so for history and chemistry she got to do it from a culinary perspective.

Extra curricular activities can help supplement public education but kids still need unstructured play time, so there is a limit to how much can be added.

I know two people who thrived in a homeschooling environment, for them it was 100% the right choice. 99% of the time it is the wrong choice.

Side note: Virtual learning has created a weird third option that isn't quite public school but also isn't homeschooling. This gets mixed in with homeschooling conversations but I think it confuses things and belongs in a separate category.

The American public school system is pretty bad. I don't see why any parent that has the time and ability to homeschool wouldn't do it.