Home schooling? Yet another tool in the arsenal of the right wing think tankers.

Are all the Democrats and Obama-supporting homeschoolers I know just too stupid to know they're being used by "right wing think tankers?"

How incredibly easy it is to slowly reverse the progress made over the last fifty years.

Is a mother choosing to do something you wouldn't a sign that women's progress is reversing? Is that all it takes, really? What about my case? I'm the father and I homeschool my son. Is that progress or not?

They clearly care far more than those selfish materialistic woman who refuse the self-sacrifice, who allow just teachers to prepare their children for the demands of the future.

I don't know a single homeschooling mom who feels that way about working mothers. You shouldn't pretend that what you imagine is the way things are.

The homeschooling moms I know have had a wide variety of experiences and careers. They are raising independent sons and daughters, daughters who want to achieve great things and experience everything life has to offer.

Not knowing they were betraying the progress of women in society, these homeschooling moms dared to make a choice that shellouise wouldn't have made.

Is that the freedom that feminism promises women? The freedom to make personal decisions based on the political views of other women? Really? Don't you think you're denying these women their individuality every bit as much as men did in previous centuries?

The more people on both sides of the political spectrum voluntarily take their kids out of the public school system, the WEAKER our nation becomes, educationally.

Please provide evidence that kids who homeschooled do worse than kids who didn't. If you can't, maybe you might think about this issue, do some research on it, and THEN form an opinion. In science, data dictates conclusions, right?

It's one thing to homeschool children back in the 1850s when the alternative was NO education, period...but to consciously make that decision now is just ri-fucking-diculous.

There are many thriving college students who were homeschooled and they would disagree with you. They would disagree with you because it's a profoundly ignorant and illiberal assertion.

Unfortunately not all home schooling parents are up to it

Nor are all public school teachers. What's your point?

I was not at all impressed with said organizations, and from my working and interacting with the home-schooled kids, I could see that they were being woefully under-served by their home schooling.

You can say the same thing about any number of school districts. Again, what's your point?

Now O'Hehir and his wife sound like they are doing a good job, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that they are the exception.

So you saw a few homeschooling families (out of the million or so in the U.S.) and have decided that most are like the ones you saw. Upon what do you base this assertion? What data do you have? Can I guess an answer? You don't have any data. You only have your own limited experiences.

Furthermore, one of the reasons some well-educated parents who had time to help their kids, yet hired me was because of problems inherent in the dynamic of just tutoring/helping their own kids.

No doubt some parents are up to the task, but, as at least one other poster said, they provide the justification which unqualified parents use to rationalize doing the same.

There are plenty of people who are unqualified to be parents, period. What to do? Give everyone a test?

I also believe there is something to the notion of socialization. I'd imagine that a lot of home-schooled kids have a difficult time dealing with their peers, although I have no observations to back this up.

You have no observations, but you "imagine" it. You have to admit this is a very weak way of suggesting that someone is making a terrible mistake in raising their children.

In addition, part of an education -- to my mind -- is learning how to deal with different types of teachers. This is a very useful skill, and comes into play, down the line, with employers and co-workers

Again, if there was any evidence whatsoever to suggest that adults who were homeschooled have a harder time in college or in the workforce, this idea might be valid. But there is zero evidence that homeschooled kids fare worse than other kids in their adult lives.

From the posts I read (not nearly all 431 at the time of my posting), a lot of home-schooled posters are claiming they or theirs were served well by home-schooling. I would that persons with poor home-schooling experiences are not the typical Salon readers and even less likely Salon posters.

So, even though the homeschooled people here have said they had positive experiences, you just...feel...like most poorly homeschooled people aren't chiming in.

All of this indicates you've made up your mind and facts be damned.

In addition, Mr. O'Hehir, keep your inane stereotypes to yourself. I am a single man, and I am quite dubious and concerned when I learn that someone is being home schooled.

Well, you've certainly put forth a few stereotypes of your own, haven't you? Socialization skills, unskilled parents, poor outcomes for homeschooled kids. And none of them with any evidence to support them. So, you're dubious and concerned about homeschooling because...you saw some bad examples of it? That's about it, isn't it? Wouldn't it be silly for me to be concerned when I hear of someone going to public school because of all the terrible things that go on in schools all over the country? Of course, it would. Public school is great for some kids. Just like homeschooling is great for some kids.

Bottom line: since there's zero evidence that homeschooling is worse for kids than public schooling, you can relax.