And when my parents had marital problems, it didn't affect my schooling, because there was a nice, safe boundary between them and my school that protected my education from their egos.

Children who are home schooled rarely have adequate social skills, and all the Hindu myths in the world won't make that transition easier.

Unfortunately for every kid getting a reasonable non-ideological home schooled upbringing, there is probably five getting a god driven agenda. And while this article is all peachy-keen on how well it is working out, I'm sure the downsides will manifest themselves eventually.

Good luck to the parents. I hope it works out for you, your children, and society.

Really badly messed up. I was raised half and half by equally with equality idealistic and naive notions of child rearing. If you don't put those kids with other children, normal children, they are going to be a LOT of anti-depressants because they will not be able to connect to people in a meaningful way. Either that, or like, super christian. Or both.

The curriculum and the students' response may be charming, but schooling is only in part about education. There are important lessons learned in a classroom that home schooling just won't provide - how to withstand boredom, how to carry on when you are not the center of attention, how much you can shoot off your mouth before somebody shuts it for you. On a personal level, parents and children who want to spend all of their time together just strike me as weird. If there is a movement or trend towards home schooling let's hope it is short-lived.

My only close encounter with home schooling was the daughter of a distant friend. I agree with the other posters; although the parents were talented and well intentioned, not religious zealots, nevertheless the girl lived a weird, sheltered life and ended up an underachiever and a spoiled little rich girl. When the parents got divorced, she was in an even more awkward position than usual.

Schools aren't perfect, but they provide a larger social realm and a variety of expertise and perspective that parents can't possibly match.

I am a teacher. Have been for 23 years. Most kids who come from a home schooled situation are way behind. However, if done right, and I know parents who have been, and are doing it right, it's the way to go. The key is to be consistent, with a regular schedule.

Also, the children who have successful homeschooling experiences have parents who keep them involved in plenty of social activities. In my district, your child has the right to play or participate in any school sponsored activity whether they go to public school or not.

I hated sending my first off to preschool and public schools. However with the other two it was much easier. It's good for kids to interact with people outside the family, with people who don't understand them as well as a parent does. Homeschool seems to sheltering to me.

There really is no substitute for the socialization children experience in a public school setting. On the other hand a public school education is far from comprehensive. A lot of important stuff is left out and altogether ignored. Provided the child's parents are enlightened enough to provide what is missing from the public school environment; why can't they provide an extracurricular education to fill in the gaps? This would be the best of both worlds. Granted the vast majority of parents won't be motivated enough or care enough.

I am a former teacher, with 35 years of experience. I now work outside the school, in an education related field.

My family and I live in Nebraska, which due to the lax regulations, is pretty much home-school heaven. We live on a farm, and are surrounded by home-schoolers. So I have had extensive experience with home-schooled children and their parents on a professional and a personal level.

Yes, there are very successful home schools out there. But my experience has found them to be in the minority. I have three or four neighbors who home-school their children. One family does a remarkable job. Their children are very successful after they leave the home. The others, not so much. In fact, the one family doing the fantastic job constantly criticizes the other families, saying they home-school just to provide a convenient labor force.

The home-schooled kids I encountered in school have had trouble adjusting to public school education. Some are woefully behind in reading, writing, and math skills. Some have trouble with higher order thinking skills. Occasionally, I did get a home-schooled child who could handle the transition to public schools.

In one of the recent sessions of the Nebraska Unicameral (we are the only state to have a one-house legislative body) a state senator proposed legislation which would require home-schooled children to be tested, just like their public school counter parts. It was met with such fierce resistance that the legislation was dropped. If home schooling is so superior, why not actually PROVE it?

So, good for the author. But for me, I remain very skeptical of the home-school movement.

This is a good point. Having grown up as one of four born to parents in their 20s, I see a lot of differences in the parenting styles of those who had smaller families in their 30s.

It was easier for younger parents with more children to express irritation and, at the same time, be more accepting of their offspring's limitations. Now your child has to be "super bright" or its a reflection on you. Perhaps, for that reason, 30-something parents tend to view their children as precocious when they may in fact be average. They aren't doing them any favors; it's harder to bump up against the limits of your abilities later when you've never dealt with the frustration and disappointment of not being told you're the best.

Home schooling sounds wonderful for kindergardeners. After all, most kindergarden is only a half day, which for stay at home parents, leaves a lot of time to explore museums, beaches, parks, libraries, and other wonderful places. As kids get older, however, their universe must expand to include interactions and learning with their peers. I tried to give my children the best of both worlds, time with me exploring, reading, and telling stories alongside a conventional school environment where they could play and learn from a teacher as well as other children. If they don't have religious or paranoid aversions, I imagine the author and his wife will end up sending their kids off to school, while continuing to play an important role as educators on the weekends. Until then, enjoy!